Mysterious streams of ultra-fast gas pouring out of black holes could hold the key to explaining how stars form inside a galaxy
- A study by says speeding gas from black holes may shape our galaxy
- Ultrafast outflows or UFOs may push interstellar matter through our galaxy
- UFOs may account for a mystery regarding how stars in the inner galaxy operate
- They may also affect star formation by redistributing gas in the galaxy
At least one kind of UFO could be having a profound impact on our galaxy.
Scientist say ultra-fast outflows (UFOs), a kind of torrential gas, or ‘wind’, that spews out from supermassive black holes, could be shaping the Milky Way and beyond in ways previously undocumented.
In a study late last month, scientists analyzed eight years worth of data from the European Space Agency’s XMM-Newton X-ray observatory and found several new way in which the outflows affect interstellar matter.
While outflows have been identified previously, scientist say this is the first study to quantify the effects.
Supermassive black holes at the center of galaxies may have a drastic affect on the distrubtion of gas and stars say researchers at the European Space Agency.
‘These winds might explain some surprising correlations that scientists have known about for years but couldn’t explain,’ said lead author Roberto Serafinelli of the National Institute of Astrophysics in Milan, Italy.
Among those correlations is a mystery of why stars located in the inner part of the Galaxy rotate faster the bigger the supermassive black hole at its center is.
As scientists have long noted, the gravity of the black hole can’t fully account for the phenomenon.
‘We see a correlation between the masses of supermassive black holes and the velocity dispersion of stars in the inner parts of their host galaxies. But there is no way this could be due to the gravitational effect of the black hole…’
Scientists say one newly discovered type of outflow in particular, which combines characteristics of the ultrafast outlflow and a slower variety called the warm absorber, has the biggest effect on our galaxy.
‘We believe that this is the point when the UFO touches the interstellar matter and sweeps it away like a snowplough,’ said Serafinelli.
‘We call this an ‘entrained ultra-fast outflow’ because the UFO at this stage is penetrating the interstellar matter. It’s similar to wind pushing boats in the sea.’
These entrained outflows effectively harness some of the energy of the supermassive black hole and push matter outward and clearing central parts of the galaxy from gas.
Saggitarius A (pictured above) is the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way and may be affecting the formation of stars across our solar system and more.
Scientists say this phenomenon doesn’t just alter gas distribution, it could drastically impact the formation of stars.
They note that today’s galaxy produces far fewer stars than in the Milky Way’s infancy which could be a product of the outflows redistributing gases.
‘UFOs may strip gas from star-forming regions in the bulge, slowing or even shutting down star formation,’ the study says.
In the future, scientists say better technology like the ESA’s Advanced Telescope for High Energy Astrophysics, Athena, will allow astronomers to observe hundreds of thousands of supermassive black holes and detect such outflows more easily.
‘Finding one source is great but knowing that this phenomenon is common in the Universe would be a real breakthrough,’ said Norbert Schartel, XMM-Newton project scientist at ESA.
‘Even with XMM-Newton, we might be able to find more such sources in the next decade.’
