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A supermassive black hole, located at the center of a distant galaxy, is firing energy bursts so powerful they seem like true bullets at the speed of light. The revelation was made by scientists from NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and JAXA, using data collected by the XRISM space observatory, which has state-of-the-art sensors.
According to information published on the Earth.com portal, this behavior had never been observed in this way and calls into question some theories about the functioning of black holes and the formation of galaxies.
Supermassive Black Holes: Monsters That Live in the Centers of Galaxies
Supermassive black holes are true cosmic monsters. They have a mass millions or even billions of times greater than that of the Sun and are located at the center of most known galaxies, including our very own Milky Way.
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These gigantic cosmic objects feed on gas, dust, and even stars, creating a gravitational field so strong that not even light can escape. Until now, it was known that they emit winds and jets of particles, but what scientists have discovered now is much more intense and dangerous.
Black Hole Winds Are Not Gentle: They Are Energy Bullets!
The new discovery revealed that the winds expelled by black holes are not like a continuous flow of air, as previously thought. They are, in fact, violent explosions, similar to bullets fired at nearly 100,000 km per second – a third of the speed of light!
According to Professor Christine Done from the Centre for Extragalactic Astronomy at Durham University, “these winds are not gentle. They are highly chaotic, filled with clumps of matter that behave like energy shots fired through space.”
This phenomenon was observed in the quasar PDS 456, one of the brightest and closest black holes to Earth, and has been the subject of study for decades.
Impact on Galaxies: They Can Destroy Star Clouds
The study indicates that these energy shots are so powerful that they directly affect the growth of the galaxy where the black hole is located.
When these cosmic bullets are fired, they collide with clouds of gas and dust, creating shocks so strong that they can prevent the birth of new stars. This may explain why some galaxies simply stop forming stars and enter evolutionary collapse.
According to researchers, the impact of these winds is not uniform, meaning some regions of the galaxy may be devastated while others continue to form stars normally.
How This Discovery Changes What We Knew About the Universe
Until recently, scientific models assumed that black hole winds were constant and linear. The revelation that they behave like intermittent bursts, fired like bullets, completely changes our understanding of the interaction between black holes and galaxies.
The XRISM, with its ultra-precise sensors, managed to measure five different speeds in the winds, showing that they are composed of millions of clumps, each with its own speed and chemical composition.
This discovery also helps to understand why some galaxies seem to evolve more quickly or stop growing, while others remain active.
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