Fountain of the galaxy seen in full glory

<a rel = "lightbox" href = "https://3c1703fe8d.site.internapcdn.net/newman/gfx/news/2018/galaxyscalef.jpg" title = "Composite image of Abell 2597 galaxy cluster showing A fountain-like gas flow is fed by the supermbadive black hole of the central galaxy. Yellow is the ALMA data of the cold gas. The red corresponds to the Very Large Telescope data showing the hot gas to hydrogen in the same region, the prolonged ionized hot gas as imagined by Chandra's X-ray observatory Photo: ALMA (ESO / NAOJ / NRAO), Tremblay et al . NRAO / AUI / NSF, B. Saxton, NASA / Chandra, ESO / VLT ">

At one billion light-years away from Earth is one of the most mbadive structures in the universe, a giant elliptical galaxy surrounded by a sprawling cluster of 39; Other galaxies called Abell 2597. At the heart of the central galaxy, a supermbadive black hole feeds the cosmic equivalent of a monumental fountain, tapping into vast reserves of cold molecular gas and spraying them again into a cycle. continued.

Astronomers have long speculated that fountains such as this one constantly recirculate the fuel that forms a star in the galaxy. The new observations of ABell 2597 in Atacama's Abell 2597 reveal the first clear and convincing evidence of the simultaneous collapse and exit of gas powered by a supermbadive black hole. The researchers report their observations in the last issue of Astrophysical Journal .

"The supermbadive black hole located at the center of this giant galaxy acts as a mechanical" pump "in a water fountain," said Grant Tremblay, astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics at Cambridge, in Mbadachusetts, and lead author of the paper. "It's one of the first systems in which we find clear evidence of an influx of cold molecular gas to the black hole and a leaking outflow or uplift." by the jets that the black hole throws. "

According to the researchers, this whole system works through a self-regulated feedback loop. The infallible material feeds the fountain when it "drains" to the central black hole, as water enters the pump of a fountain. This infiltrant gas then causes intense activity of the black hole, which launches high velocity jets of superheated materials that spurt out of the galaxy. As it moves, this material pushes gas clusters and gas streaks into the galaxy's big halo, where it eventually rains down on the black hole, triggering the process again.

In total, about three billion solar mbades of molecular gases are part of this fountain, forming a filamentous nebula covering the deepest 100,000 light-years of the galaxy.

In an earlier study of the same authors published in the journal Nature, researchers were able to verify the interconnection between the black hole and the galactic fountain by observing the region over a range of wavelengths or parts of the spectrum. By studying the localization and movement of carbon monoxide (CO) molecules with ALMA, which shine brightly in millimeter-wavelength light, researchers were able to measure the movement of gas when it was headed for the black hole.

The multi-unit spectroscopic explorer (MUSE) of the ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) revealed that hot ionized gas was being expelled from the galaxy – essentially the plume of the fountain. The new ALMA observations revealed clusters of cold molecular gas, exactly in the same places as the hot gas observed in previous observations.

"The unique look here is a very detailed coupled badysis of the source with the help of ALMA data and the MUSE instrument. Both facilities constitute an incredibly powerful combination "said Mr. Tremblay. "ALMA has revealed the distribution and motions of cold molecular gas clouds, and MUSE has done the same for hot ionized gas."

ALMA and MUSE data were combined with a new ultra-deep observation of the cluster by Chandra, NASA.

The observations also support the hypothesis that hot ionized nebulae and cold molecules are one in the same thing, hot ionized gas being only the "shell" around the cold molecular nuclei that mingle in this galaxy fountain of scale.

This multi-wavelength approach offers an unusual picture of this system. "It's like watching both the rain cloud, the rain and the puddle of water," noted Tremblay. Although it is only an observation of a galaxy, astronomers speculate that they may be observing a process common to these galaxies and fundamental to their evolution.

Explore Further:
Image: Clouds are blowing around our local supermbadive black hole

More information:
G. R. Tremblay et al., A fountain of cold molecular gas pumped by a black hole on the scale of a galaxy, The Astrophysical Journal (2018). DOI: 10.3847 / 1538-4357 / aad6dd