Supermassive black hole winds are 100 times stronger than thought, traveling 300,000 light-years

"These winds were thought to be contained within the galaxy, but our study revealed that the force is immensely more powerful than previously understood."
BY BIPLAB DAS
PUBLISHED 1 HOUR AGO
An illustration of a supermassive black hole with millions to billions of times the mass of our Sun. (Representative Cover Image Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
An illustration of a supermassive black hole with millions to billions of times the mass of our Sun. (Representative Cover Image Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

A new study, published in Nature Astronomy, has revealed that supermassive black holes generate winds that are 100 times more powerful than previously thought. Led by Satoshi Yamada, an assistant professor at the Tohoku University Frontier Institute for Interdisciplinary Sciences (FRIS), the study detected evidence that the winds from supermassive black holes can spread out across distances of about 300,000 light-years, going well beyond the galaxies they inhabit.

Schematic illustration of the hierarchical structure of the Universe, from a galaxy group (a collection of galaxies) to an individual galaxy and the supermassive black hole at its center.
Schematic illustration of the hierarchical structure of the universe, from a galaxy group to an individual galaxy and the supermassive black hole at its center. (Representative Image Source: Tohoku University)

Astronomers have long known that black holes suck in matter by shredding a passing star, and even light cannot escape from their immense gravity, "but they also eject gas in the form of powerful winds," Yamada said in a statement. "These winds were thought to be contained within the galaxy, but our study revealed that the force is immensely more powerful than previously understood."

This illustration shows a glowing stream of material from a star as it is being devoured by a supermassive black hole in a tidal disruption flare (Representative Cover Image Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
This illustration shows a glowing stream of material from a star as it is being devoured by a supermassive black hole in a tidal disruption flare (Representative Image Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

For the study, Yamada and his colleagues from Kanazawa University and Tokyo Metropolitan University looked into quasars, supermassive black hole-powered objects that are known to be 10 to 100,000 times brighter than our Milky Way galaxy. They used the X-ray astronomy satellite XRISM to focus on the constellation of Draco, where they homed in on the quasar H1821+643, lying 3.4 billion light-years from Earth.

This artist's concept depicts a distant galaxy with an active quasar at its center. (Image Source: NASA, ESA and J. Olmsted (STScI))
This artist's concept depicts a distant galaxy with an active quasar at its center. [Representative Image Source: NASA, ESA, and J. Olmsted (STScI)]

After keenly observing the quasar, they realized that there is a rapidly growing black hole residing at the heart of the galaxy cluster. The invisible monster has been found to create turbulence in the surrounding hot gas that gives off X-rays. The researchers then probed the spectral lines or light emitted by iron ions, helping them to meticulously determine the motion of the gas. Observations by the XRISM revealed that the gas hovering around the black hole is not stuck in space. Instead, it is being dispersed across vast distances, even well beyond the limits of the host galaxy, due to turbulence. In fact, the turbulence driving out the gas is 100 times more powerful than previous estimates suggested, containing energy equivalent to several billion supernova explosions with which stars end their lives. 

This image combines data from four space telescopes to create a multi-wavelength view of all that remains of RCW 86, the oldest documented example of a supernova. (Cover Image Source: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO & ESA; Infrared: NASA/JPL-Caltech/B. Williams (NCSU))
This image combines data from four space telescopes to create a multi-wavelength view of all that remains of RCW 86, the oldest documented example of a supernova. [Image Source: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO & ESA; Infrared: NASA/JPL-Caltech/B. Williams (NCSU)]

"For the first time, we have shown that black holes influence the broader cosmic environment through a shock wave of astonishing power," added Yamada. "Black holes are key drivers of gas flows and motion in space, transporting vast amounts of energy to different regions of the cosmos." More observations locating such phenomena of turbulence-driven winds around black holes may reveal their roles in the circulation of matter and elements across the universe. 

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