A black hole inside a distant spiral Galaxy is swallowing in surrounding matter and creating wind currents at a speed unprecedented by astronomers.
According to the European Space Agency (ESA), the black hole in the Galaxy NGC 3783 has a mass equivalent to 30 million Suns. This black hole sucks in neighboring matter to create energy for the center of the highly active Galaxy (AGN), an extremely bright and dynamic area, emitting strong reactive flows and winds.
An especially strong wind flow is measured to reach a speed of 60,000 km/s, or nearly 20% of the speed of light.
We have never seen black holes create such rapid wind currents, said Liyi Gu, head of the international research team at the Royal Space Research Organization (SRON).
For the first time, a rapid X-ray burst from a black hole immediately triggers a super-fast wind, and these wind currents form in just one day, adds scientists Liyi Gu.
Meanwhile, researcher Matteo Guainazzi explained that the wind around the black hole was created when the chaotic magnetism of the Milky Way suddenly "turned" and created a phenomenon similar to the Sun's fluorescent coronation but on an nearly unimaginable scale.
Project scientist Erik Kuulkers said the discovery suggests that solar physics and high-energy physics can operate in familiar ways throughout the universe.
According to research by human explorer Camille Diez of ESA, the wind fields from the active galaxies play an important role in the development of the galaxies themselves. A better understanding of galaxies and their behavior will help decoding the universe.
As they have a great influence, a better understanding of AGN's magnetism and how they generate such wind flows is the key to understanding the history of galaxies throughout the universe, Diez emphasized.
