Colossal bubbles of hot gas observed around three distant, supermassive black holes are probably the result of powerful winds, which could also be preventing the formation of new stars in those galaxies
By Leah Crane
12 July 2023
Three distant quasars have bubbles of ionised gas around them
International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/M. Zamani, J. da Silva
Astronomers have observed three distant quasars surrounded by enormous blobs of ionised gas termed “superbubbles”. These colossal blobs seem to be caused by winds whipping around the huge black holes that power the quasars, and the same winds may also be preventing their home galaxies from forming new stars.
Guilin Liu at the University of Science and Technology of China and his colleagues spotted these objects using the Gemini North telescope in Hawaii. They examined three red quasars – particularly bright examples of active supermassive black holes – and found that each one sat at the meeting point of a huge pair of bubbles of ionised gas. These hot gas clouds measured about 60,000 light years across, making them what astronomers call superbubbles.
The researchers then performed a series of simulations to figure out how these superbubbles were produced. We have long known that quasars create powerful winds and that these winds could have extreme effects on galaxies, but direct evidence has been tough to come by.
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“We have made enormous efforts to actually detect outflows powerful enough to produce this effect,” says Liu. “We think we have enough evidence that the superbubbles reported in this paper are a consequence of powerful outflows we are after.”
As they create the superbubbles, these winds are also expected to heat up and blow away cooler gas. This gas is the raw material from which stars are made so when it is blown away, the star formation in the galaxy stalls out, resulting in an unexpectedly inactive galaxy. These new observations provide proof that this process really does occur.