Scientists have discovered a gargantuan galactic wind emitted by a supermassive black hole some 13.1 billion years ago, the oldest one observed to date. This is a critical discovery as it can help shed ‘light’ on the development of galaxies in particular and for our modern universe in general.
Scientists from the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) first identified a hundred galaxies having supermassive black holes in their center using NAOJs Subaru Telescope, a very powerful instrument with a wide observation capacity. They then used Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), which has more sensitivity, to study the gigantic galactic winds flowing outwards from the supermassive black holes.
Scientists believe that these physical interactions between black holes and galaxies have played a critical role in the development of our modern universe.
It is already known that the center of galaxies has supermassive black holes, billions of times huge than our sun. Scientists believe that these galactic winds, going outward from these supermassive black holes, have profound effects due to physical interactions and telltale the effects of supermassive black holes on the evolution of galaxies, something scientists term as coevolution ̵ evolution of black holes and galaxies together.
Scientists believe that these physical interactions between black holes and galaxies have played a critical role in the development of our modern universe. Supermassive black holes swallow up huge amounts of surrounding matter and stellar material. As the matter begins to swallow up into the black holes it starts swirling at high speeds due to the gravitational pulls of these gigantic monsters and starts to emit intense energy which can push the surrounding matter outwards. This is how the galactic winds are created.
Takuma Izumi, the lead author of the research paper and a researcher at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ), says, “The question is when galactic winds came into existence in the universe? This is an important question because it is related to an important problem in astronomy: How did galaxies and supermassive black holes coevolve?”
The latest research was presented by the research group from NAOJ in the Astrophysical Journal Takuma Izumi et al. titled: “Subaru High-z Exploration of Low-Luminosity Quasars (SHELLQs). XIII. Large-scale Feedback and Star Formation in a Low-Luminosity Quasar at z = 7.07,”.
Also, Read: The Mysterious Theories of Black and White Holes
Muhammad Abdullah Khan has done bachelors in Chemistry from Government College University
Lahore. He is a science enthusiast and loves to read and write about astronomy, cosmology and latest
scientific endeavors.
