Supermassive black hole

In an active galaxy, two opposing jets of particles shoot out near the speed of light from the supermassive black hole at the galaxy's center, as seen in an artist's conception.

Using the recently launched Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, astronomers have found a new type of active galaxy and have detected changes in the energy output of another galaxy--findings that will improve understanding of the various sources of high-energy gamma rays in our universe.