A team of astronomers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison has made a groundbreaking discovery: clouds of gas in a distant galaxy are hurtling outward at speeds exceeding 10,000 miles per second. The driving force behind this cosmic exodus? Blasts of radiation emanating from the supermassive black hole residing at the galaxy’s core.
The findings, presented at the 244th meeting of the American Astronomical Society, shed light on how active black holes can shape their host galaxies by either promoting or stifling the birth of new stars.