Revealed: Secrets of furious black hole winds

Washington, February 20: In a major finding, SA has shown that fierce winds from a supermassive black hole blow outward in all directions — a phenomenon that had been suspected, but difficult to prove until now. This discovery gives astronomers an opportunity to measure the strength of these ultra-fast winds, the US space agency said in a statement. They can also prove that the winds are powerful enough to inhibit the host galaxy’s ability to make new stars.

SA’s Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) and ESA’s (European Space Agency) XMM-Newton telescope have discovered the phenomenon. “We know black holes in the centres of galaxies can feed on matter, and this process can produce winds. This is thought to regulate the growth of the galaxies,” said Fio Harrison from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasade, California and co-author.

Supermassive black holes blast matter into their host galaxies, with X-ray-emitting winds travelling at up to one-third the speed of light. (IANS)