LIKE the blueprints for life—molecules of DNA—giant jets from
astronomical power-houses can form a double helix.
Andrei Lobanov and Anton Zensus at the Max Planck Institute for Radio
Astronomy in Bonn looked at a quasar called 3C273, which is 240 million light
years away, using orbiting and ground-based radio telescopes. The quasar emits a
jet of energetic particles that spouts millions of light years into space.
Lobanov found that the jet contains two thread-like patterns forming a double
helix (Science, vol 294, p 128). He says that this fits in with
theories that such a pattern can…
