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A billion light years away – at this distance lies the cluster of unusually bright galaxies, Abell 2597, which comprises about 50 individual galaxies.
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One of them, the Abell 2597 Brightest Cluster Galaxy, is right in the center and is the source of a gigantic molecular gas fountain, researchers Grant Grant of the Harvard-Smithsonian Astrophysical Center established.
Intergalactic Flood
Driven by a mbadive black hole in the heart of Abell 's brightest galaxy 2597, the cold molecular gas is projected into space and falls back into the black hole in the form of an intergalactic flood, as the team writes in the journal Astrophysical Journal.
"This is perhaps the first system in which we find clear evidence of the arrival of cold molecular gas in the direction of the black hole, as well as its ejection or ejection of jets (flow of material with a narrow concentration , editorial note) triggering the black hole, "said Tremblay in a statement.The black hole in the center of this huge galaxy looks like a" mechanical pump in a fountain ".
American research using European technology
The results were obtained using the Atacama Large Millimeter / Subillimeter Array (ALMA) system and the MUSE spectrograph of the very large telescope of the European Southern Observatory (ESO).
With ALMA, researchers captured the position and motion of carbon monoxide (CO) molecules in fog. These cold molecules with temperatures of up to -260 degrees Celsius fall to the black hole. The MUSE spectrograph was used to study the hotter gases ejected as jets near the black hole.
Important for the future
Together, the two sets of data provide a complete picture of the process: the cold gas hits the black hole, accelerates sharply around it and is extremely heated by friction, before being dropped at high speed by jets in the form of of incandescent plasma in the vacuum of space. ,
These jets spring from the black hole like an impressive galactic fountain. Having no hope of escaping the gravitational grip of the galaxy, the plasma cools and eventually rains to the black hole where the cycle begins again.
The results could shed light on the life cycle of galaxies. Scientists suspect that this process is not only widespread but also essential for understanding galaxy formation.
(Wi)
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