The galaxy NGC 4383 is evolving strangely. Gas flows from its core at speeds exceeding 200 km/s. This mysterious eruption of gas has a unique cause: star formation. Image source: ESO/A.Watts et al.
An international team of researchers studied the nearby galaxy NGC 4383 in the Virgo cluster and found that the outflow of gas was so great that it took 20,000 years for light to travel from one side to the other.
The findings were published in the journal Royal Astronomical Society monthly notices.
Lead author Dr Adam Watts, from the International Center for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) node at the University of Western Australia, said the outflow was the result of powerful stellar explosions in the central region of the Milky Way, which could have ejected large amounts of hydrogen and heavier elements.
The mass of gas ejected is equivalent to more than 50 million suns.
“We know very little about the physics of outflow and its properties because outflow is difficult to detect,” Dr. Watts said.
“The outgassing gas is rich in heavy elements, which gives us a unique understanding of the complex mixing of hydrogen and metals in the outflowing gas.
“In this particular case, we detected oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur and many other chemical elements.”
Gas outflows are critical in regulating how quickly and for how long galaxies continue to form stars. The gas spewed by these explosions pollutes the space between stars within galaxies, and even between galaxies, and can float forever in the intergalactic medium.
The high-resolution map was produced using data from the MAUVE survey, which was co-led by ICRAR researchers Barbara Catinella and Professor Luca Cortese, who are also co-authors of the study.
The survey used the MUSE whole-field spectrograph on the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in northern Chile.
Professor Catinella said: “We designed MAUVE to study how physical processes such as gas outflow help prevent star formation in galaxies.”
“NGC 4383 was our first target because we suspected something very interesting was going on, but the data exceeded our expectations.
“We hope that future MAUVE observations will reveal in exquisite detail the importance of gas outflows in the local universe.”
More information:
Adam Watts et al., MAUVE: 6 kpc bipolar outflow from NGC 4383, one of the most HI-rich galaxies in the Virgo Cluster, Royal Astronomical Society monthly notices (2024). DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stae898
Courtesy of the International Center for Radio Astronomy Research
citation: Giant galactic explosion exposes ongoing galactic pollution (2024, April 21), Retrieved April 22, 2024, from https://phys.org/news/2024-04-giant-gactic-explosion- exposes-galaxy.html
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