Scientists working with the Hubble Space Telescope have discovered a spectacular collision between two knots of space matter in the center of a massive black hole. According to Science Codex, the Hubble snapped photos of the collision over several years from a distance of almost 260 million miles.

The time lapse video shows two knots of matter ejected from the ‘extragalactic jet’ emanating from the center of the distant galaxy, and offers rare insight into how wacky the physics can get inside of a black hole.

The most spectacular part about the finding is just how fast the two objects were moving when they collided. The object that did the rear-ending was moving at almost seven times the speed of light. The object that bore the brunt of the impact was moving much slower, but was still traveling well over the speed of light itself.

Extragalactic jets seem to transport energized plasma in a concentrated beam straight from the center of a host galaxy. The energies required to produce a collision this big are difficult to conceive. The jet photographed here is unique because of its high levels of visible light. The Hubble had no problem producing the images.

Scientists theorize that the matter within these extragalactic jets is corralled by powerful magnetic fields. When a piece of matter is too big to fit in with the flow of plasma, it can be ejected into space at astonishing speeds.

The collision between the two blobs of matter released massive amounts of radiation that will likely be around for several decades.

You can watch a video of the cosmic collision here: