Quasar Tsunamis that Travel at Breathtaking Velocities Wreak Havoc on Host Galaxies

Posted by Guy Pirro | 08/07/2020 02:40AM | 0 Comments

Quasars are extremely remote celestial objects that emit exceptionally large amounts of energy. Quasars contain supermassive black holes fueled by in-falling matter that can shine 1000 times brighter than their host galaxies of hundreds of billions of stars. Using the unique capabilities of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, a team of astronomers has discovered the most energetic outflows ever witnessed in the Universe. These quasar outflows emanate from the center of the galaxies and tear across interstellar space like tsunamis, wreaking havoc on the galaxies in which the quasars live. These winds, driven by blistering radiation pressure from the vicinity of the black hole, snowplow across the galaxy's disk, pushing material away from the galaxy's center, accelerating to breathtaking velocities that are a few percent of the speed of light. Material that otherwise would have formed new stars is violently swept from the galaxy, causing star birth to cease. Radiation pushes the gas and dust to far greater distances than scientists previously thought, disturbing the natural evolution of the entire galaxy.