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ANAHEIM , Calif. — Long after theblack holein the center of a galaxy spattering out , you may still see its ghost loaf in surrounding accelerator clouds aglow with leftover radiation , like wisps of fastball emanating from an already extinguished flame . Astronomers call these cosmic wraith " light echoes " — and that ’s what high - school juniorJulian Shapirofound while scanning the cosmos for supernova leftover .

" There are these knocked out regions of gas being ionized by a supermassive inglorious hole , which leave in this replication , " Shapiro said at a March 20 presentment here at the 2025 American Physical Society ( APS ) Global Physics Summit .

A red mass of irradiated gas swirls through space

A color image of the newly discovered black hole light echo candidate, which may be one of the biggest ever found.

Shapiro , 17 , is a bookman at The Dalton School in New York City . But in between classes and scoping out potential colleges , he ’s also an independent astronomer who presents at global conferences like this week ’s APS coming together .

Originally , Shapiro began sifting through theDECaPS2survey — an inventorying of the southern galactic planing machine from the Dark Energy Camera at theCerro Tololo Inter - American Observatoryin Chile — to discover the rubble of exploding stars in supernova remnants and planetarynebulas .

But after zeroing in on one such object , he found its structure did n’t match the wispy filaments characteristic of a supernova remnant , nor did it show evidence of a supernova at its centre . " It was a material surprisal to stumble upon this , " Shapiro told Live Science .

An illustration of a large radio jet

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The object , which he believes to be a clear replication , endure in a field of likely supermassive mordant trap . Using measurements from theSouthern African Large Telescope , he found high cognitive content of oxygen and ionize sulphur spit into the part — both indicator of appalled material . All of these signs suggest that the aim is the afterglow of a now - dormant black hole , which once spewed radiation therapy that ionized the surrounding gas , causing it to let out illumination even after the black pickle quieted down .

An epic echo

Shapiro currently pegs the light echo at about 150,000 to 250,000 wanton - years in diam — about 1.5 to two times the breadth of the entireMilky Waygalaxy . And if his appraisal sustain up , he thinks it could be a executable candidate for the magnanimous weak replication ever discovered .

" This object covers a big area in the sky , which makes it a bit well-off to get in - astuteness images of , " Shapiro said .

According toSasha Plavin , a smutty hole researcher at Harvard University who was not involved in the inquiry , echoes like the one Shapiro discovered can help oneself us larn more about how black holes behave in the hearts of galaxies .

An illustration of a black hole with a small round object approaching it, causing a burst of energy

" I really like how carefully [ Shapiro ] looked into these images , " Plavin separate Live Science . " These galactic events are always of interest , and I think these echo are a smashing way of learn them . "

Plavin is also interested in seeing how this new light echo measure up to others — whether it occurred faster or slowerthan existing example . " put this discovery in a blanket linguistic context could be utile in the futurity , " he said .

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As Shapiro continues studying the sparkle echo , he skip to instruct more about its opus with measurements of its different regions . But in the meanwhile , he ’s excited to keep contributing to black hole science — even if he came across it by fortuity .

An artist�s illustration of three black holes merging.

" My involvement in this surface area of research amount as a snatch of a surprisal to me , " he said . " But I hope this objective , in particular , helps expand the knowledge of galaxy activeness that we do n’t have too great of an apprehension of . "

Jenna Ahart attended the APS Global Physics Summitthrough a companionship from the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing and The Brinson Foundation

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A lot of galaxies are seen as bright spots on a dark background. Toward the left, the JWST is shown in an illustration.

The giant radio jets stretching around 5 million light-years across and an enormous supermassive black hole at the heart of a spiral galaxy.

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