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Space mission discovers 'bullet-like' winds shooting from a supermassive black hole

Researchers have discovered that ultra-fast wind surrounding a supermassive black hole is not smooth and continuous as previously assumed, but instead resembles a rapid-fire stream of gas "bullets."

The energy carried by these gas bullets is far greater than anticipated, offering new insights into how galaxies and their central black holes evolve together. The findings are in the journal Nature.

The discovery was made by an international research team led by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), including Professor Christine Done from Durham University's Center for Extragalactic Astronomy.

Professor Done is one of only two European scientists supported by the European Space Agency to be part of the Japanese/U.S. X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM), which is observing hot gas plasma wind blowing through galaxies.

A galactic puzzle

It is widely believed that every galaxy harbors a supermassive black hole at its center—objects with masses millions of times that of the sun.

Over cosmic time, these black holes and their host galaxies are thought to have evolved together in a tightly linked process.

Yet, because of the vast difference in their size and mass, the exact mechanisms behind this interaction remain unclear. Making the co-evolution of galaxies and black holes one of the most profound mysteries in modern astrophysics.

A crucial clue in solving this puzzle lies in the powerful gas flows—known as outflows or winds—that are expelled from the regions around black holes at extremely high speeds.

These winds are believed to influence co-evolution in two major ways: by regulating the growth of black holes through feedback that limits the inflow of matter, and by injecting vast amounts of energy into their host galaxies, potentially shutting down star formation.

Using the powerful spectroscopic capabilities of XRISM, the research team observed winds traveling at 20% to 30% of the speed of light from a supermassive black hole.

They discovered for the first time that these winds were made up of at least five distinct gas components, each moving at different velocities.

It suggests that gas is being intermittently ejected like a geyser or channeled through gaps in the surrounding interstellar medium, challenging long-standing theories of galaxy/black hole co-evolution.

The energy carried by these winds is more than 1,000 times greater than that of galactic-scale winds, dramatically altering our understanding of their role.

Such a breakthrough observation was only possible thanks to XRISM's exceptional capabilities in resolving the velocity structure of the winds.