Space & Physics: The biggest black hole jet ever seen

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October 24—This week, astronomers spot a black hole jet that's as long as 140 Milky Ways lined up. Also, no, AI isn't taking over scientific discovery, and gamma rays may trigger lightning on Earth. All that and more below! --Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor

Top Stories

Could Colossal Black Hole Jets Have Shaped the Early Universe? Supermassive black holes can expel jets of material so vast and powerful that they may shape the large-scale structure of the cosmos Saima S. Iqbal, intern writer

Don't Panic. AI Isn't Coming to End Scientific Exploration Science is filled with tools that once seemed revolutionary and are now just part of the research tool kit. That time may have come for artificial intelligence Dan Garisto

An Ancient Asteroid Impact Both Harmed and Helped Life A gigantic space rock that slammed into Earth more than three billion years ago grievously wounded the biosphere—and then helped it heal Douglas Fox

Mysterious Gamma-Ray Flashes May Be Missing Link for Lightning Bolts Observations from a retrofitted spy plane hint at a connection between powerful gamma-ray flashes and a thunderstorm's lightning Lee Billings

Why Does the Moon Look Bigger Near the Horizon? The rising moon looks huge on the horizon, but it's all in your head Phil Plait

What We're Reading

Black holes shouldn't be able to merge, but they do. Dark matter may be behind it. | Quanta NASA's next mission to the moon will be streamed back to Earth in 4K. | Ars Technica Four large asteroids are zooming past Earth today. | Live Science

From the Archive

First-Ever Magnetic Map of Milky Way's Black Hole Reveals a Mystery Polarized light from Sagittarius A*, our galaxy's supermassive black hole, shows swirling magnetic fields that may hint at the presence of an unseen jet Robert Lea; SPACE.com

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