Distant 'quasar tsunamis' are ripping their own galaxies apart

Live Science ^ | 24 Mar, 2020 | Brandon Specktor

[MtnClimber]

At the center of almost every galaxy in the universe is a supermassive black hole gobbling up incredible amounts of matter, and belching out incredible amounts of radiation. The biggest and hungriest of these gobblers — called quasars (or quasi-stellar objects, because they look deceptively like stars when seen through most telescopes) — are some of the most energetic objects in the universe.

As infalling matter swirls around the quasar's maw at near-light-speed, that matter heats up and flies outward, propelled by the incredible force of its own radiation. All that intergalactic indigestion makes a quasar an awesome sight, capable of shining a thousand times brighter than a galaxy of 100 billion stars. However, a series of new papers suggests, the very same radiation that puts quasars on our maps of the universe may be devastating the galaxies that host the insatiable objects.

One outflow the team studied accelerated from nearly 43 million mph (69 million km/h) to roughly 46 million mph (74 million km/h) over a three-year period — the fastest-accelerating wind ever detected in space.

This hot, fast gas is capable of causing incredible damage to a quasar's host galaxy, the researchers found, rampaging through the galaxy's disk like a tsunami and blasting potential star-forming material deep into space.

[SunkenCiv]

Motorola, always up to something.

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[Fred Nerks]

At the center of almost every galaxy in the universe is a supermassive black hole gobbling up incredible amounts of matter, and belching out incredible amounts of radiation.

See, we are all heading towards the centre, to be gobbled up...and spat out...and then the whole process starts again, mirror image, upside down, inside out.

[Blue Highway]

Oh no, queers have SARS?

[trebb]

Maybe once we finish with global warming, we can start on cleaning up the area around our own black hole so it never has enough to eat to become a quasar...instead of just saving the planet, we can work to save a whole galaxy....surely folks will buy into the glory of that....