The universe is filled with massive and amazing objects that can capture the attention of astronomers and regular people alike. One of those objects that has recently been studied is officially called “PKS1424+240.”

PKS1424+240 is a supermassive black hole that has been found to have a very bright nucleus that is emitting cosmic radiation. This is essentially a quasar, but due to the fact that it is emitting that radiation directly at the Earth, it is classified as a blazar.

When astronomers studied this blazar, they were able to generate a picture of what it looked like, and they were intrigued to find that it had similarities to the Eye of Sauron depicted in the iconic Lord of the Rings movies. So, since PKS1424+240 doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, they adopted The Eye of Sauron as its nickname.

While having a supermassive blackhole emitting cosmic radiation directly at the Earth sounds intimidating, it is not really a threat to us because it is about 7.4 billion light-years away. Given how rare it is for one of these objects to be pointing directly at the Earth, however, it does give researchers the opportunity to study it in a unique way so they can learn more about this blazar and other quasars in the universe.

The astronomers published their findings in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. In it, they explained how they were able to determine what was observed at the center of the Eye of Sauron. Its brightness, they say, comes from all of the matter in the surrounding area being pulled deep into the blackhole.

As material is pulled in, the black hole emits massive amounts of gamma rays and neutrinos toward Earth. As of now, the Eye of Sauron is the brightest neutrino-producing blazar known to man. What surprised the researchers about this blazar is that the jets of radiation were moving more slowly than expected. Previous research indicated that only fast-moving jets can make the type of brightness seen from the Eye of Sauron.

With that mystery in mind, the researchers started analyzing all the data that had been collected on this blazar from radio telescopes over the years. In the end, they determined that the slowness of the jets is actually just an optical illusion caused by the fact that it is pointed directly at Earth. Jack Livingston is one of the study’s co-authors and a researcher at Max Planck. He commented on this in a statement, saying:

“This alignment causes a boost in brightness by a factor of 30 or more. At the same time, the jet appears to move slowly due to projection effects — a classic optical illusion.”

Identifying the reason that this particular blazar appeared so bright will help researchers to know more about other bright objects in the sky. They say it could also help them to come up with better theories about the shape of cosmic jets, magnetic fields, and other phenomena taking place at or around supermassive blackholes throughout the universe.

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