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Black hole caught burping galactic gas
Astronomers have said they spotted two waves of gas being “burped” by the black hole at the heart of a nearby galaxy. They used NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory to investigate the dwarf galaxy NGC 5195, which is in the process of merging with the flashier Whirlpool galaxy, said scientists who shared the findings at the American Astronomical Society’s meeting on Tuesday.
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Astronomers also said optical telescope revealed a region of cooler hydrogen gas just past the X-ray arcs, which suggests the blasts pushed dust outward.
A black hole’s epic “burp” may help solve one of the deep mysteries of the galactic core. The dust-filled expanses of spiral galaxies like the Milky Way are bursting with star formation — the dustier the area is, the more likely it is for new stars to form there. But astronomers have found that stars rarely form in the center of a galaxy, where a supermassive black hole often rests, and researchers don’t know why. Now they feel they have a small clue. The black hole at the centre of NGC 5194 probably gorged on gas that was delivered by the small galaxy’s interaction with its much bigger, spiralling neighbour. As that matter fell into the black hole, huge amounts of energy would have been released - causing the outbursts.
“This is the best example of snowplowed material I’ve ever seen,” Eric Schlegel, lead author on the new study said.
Star Light
- For an analogy, astronomers often refer to black holes as ‘eating’ stars and gas,” lead author Eric Schlegel added in a statement. “Apparently, black holes can also burp after their meal.
- A black hole relatively close to the Milky Way — a mere 26 million lightyears from earth — has shown evidence of a huge X-ray blast outward that may have “snowplowed,” or swept away, nearby star-forming dust.
- Deep red light, indicating the presence of hydrogen, was seen in a thin strip just in front of the outermost wave, in optical images from a telescope at the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona.
- The patch of hydrogen, spread out in a thin shape closely matching the arc of hot gas seen in Chandra X-ray images, clinched this as a belch rather than a gulp.
- The team has calculated that the inner wave of hot gas probably took three million years to reach its current position - and the outer wave up to six million years. This activity is likely to have had a big effect on the galactic landscape.”
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