The idea of the life cycle of a galaxy may change
Scientists have long realized that black holes play a decisive role in the evolution of galaxies. According to a recent study, they can stop star formation in large galaxies. This phenomenon could radically change the human understanding of how galaxies cease to “live.”
The Sombrero Galaxy (M104) is the closest and especially bright elliptical galaxy. Its name was given by the dust lane and stars and globular clusters.
In the center of this galaxy, events occur that cause numerous X-rays. This strong radiation and the anomalously high speed of rotation of stars near its center lead many astronomers to believe that there is a black hole at the center of this galaxy. Its mass is a billion times greater than the mass of the Sun.
Scientists using the James Webb Space Telescope have discovered that galactic winds, composed mostly of neutral gas, are a key component of this process. Before this study, scientists could only observe ionized gas, which was not enough to fully understand the dynamics taking place.
Rebecca Davies and her team from Swinburne University of Technology studied a very distant galaxy whose light took more than 10 billion years to reach Earth. They observed that the supermassive black hole at the center of this galaxy was expelling gas at such a rate that it slowed or even completely stopped the formation of new stars.
When a galaxy stops forming stars, Davis said, it “dies out.” This transition from a dynamic to a static state is critical to understanding how a galaxy evolves.
JWST observations have shown that the gases ejected from black holes are much more significant than previously thought.
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