<p>Most galaxies have enough dust to hide their cores from investigation in visible light. But the jet from an AGN is composed of large amounts of relativistic particles, and is easily powerful enough to clear any dust out of its path. We see in M87 a jet punch 5000 light years from an active nucleus.</p>

<p>The dust that hides Sagittarius A* is not localised around the black hole, it is spread through the bulge, bar and disk. You would not want to be anywhere near an active galactic nucleus. Large amounts of radiation are produced by the accretion disc surrounding the black hole. Distance and dust may provide some protection to a star orbiting an active galaxy at the distance of the sun from Sag A*, but not if the star is directly in the jet.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-12-30T09:43:17.867Z
2016-12-30T09:43:17.867Z
James K
<p>The supermassive black hole in the Milky Way is covered by dust as seen from here. Is it common that SMBH's are covered in dust in their galactic disks? Would that dust absorb and disperse a jet from an active galactic nucleus, so that the atmospheres of Earth like planets would be protected?</p>

<p>AGN jets build bubbles perpendicular to the galactic plane, but the jet could be oriented in any direction, right? The bubbles are shaped by general stellar winds from the disk, redirecting the jet streamed material towards the galactic poles, if I get that rigt.</p>

<supermassive-black-hole><habitable-zone>
Does the dust around SMBH's protect habitable planets from jets?
LocalFluff
# Does the dust around SMBH's protect habitable planets from jets?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-05-30)

The supermassive black hole in the Milky Way is covered by dust as seen from here. Is it common that SMBH's are covered in dust in their galactic disks? Would that dust absorb and disperse a jet from an active galactic nucleus, so that the atmospheres of Earth like planets would be protected?

AGN jets build bubbles perpendicular to the galactic plane, but the jet could be oriented in any direction, right? The bubbles are shaped by general stellar winds from the disk, redirecting the jet streamed material towards the galactic poles, if I get that rigt.

**Tags:** supermassive-black-hole, habitable-zone


---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2016-12-30. Score: 2 | Accepted answer

Most galaxies have enough dust to hide their cores from investigation in visible light. But the jet from an AGN is composed of large amounts of relativistic particles, and is easily powerful enough to clear any dust out of its path. We see in M87 a jet punch 5000 light years from an active nucleus.

The dust that hides Sagittarius A\* is not localised around the black hole, it is spread through the bulge, bar and disk. You would not want to be anywhere near an active galactic nucleus. Large amounts of radiation are produced by the accretion disc surrounding the black hole. Distance and dust may provide some protection to a star orbiting an active galaxy at the distance of the sun from Sag A\*, but not if the star is directly in the jet.


---

