Jet Near Light Speed
Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity says that nothing can
travel faster than the speed of light. Jets of protons and electrons that shoot away from
objects such as
quasars and
black holes appear to travel at speeds
approaching this maximum speed, though.
Such jets carry tremendous energy and can ram
straight through interstellar material. In the above frame from a computer simulation,
a jet traveling only 98 percent of light speed
rams and mixes with interstellar material.
Even higher energy jets might well explain the structure seen around
Cygnus A.