New research spearheaded by the European Space Agency (ESA) has discovered a spiral galaxy IRAS17020+4544, categorized as a Seyfert galaxy, much like our own that is shooting out a stream of high-speed gas from its center, which may be hindering its ability to create new stars. This marks the first time that these winds have been discovered in a normal active galaxy.
It is not uncommon to find these kinds of winds stemming from the swirling discs that surround the supermassive black holes that lie at the center of active galaxies, and if powerful enough, these winds can influence their surroundings significantly. Typically, they will blow away the gases necessary for star formation as well as stimulate cloud collapse, which may, in turn, form stars. However, prior to the current discovery, these winds were thought to only affect larger objects such as massive elliptical galaxies.
"It's the first solid case of an ultra-fast X-ray outflow observed in a 'normal' Seyfert galaxy," Anna Longinotti, lead author of the paper, said in a press release.
Seyfert galaxies have a spiral shape very similar to our own Milky Way's, although unlike the Milky Way, they possess cores that create light that encompasses the entire electromagnetic spectrum, which means that the supermassive black holes at their cores are not resting and are instead actively sucking up their surroundings.
The winds that were found to be swirling around the black hole in IRAS17020+4544's core are moving at a whopping 23,000 to 33,000 kilometers per second, which is approximately 10 percent the speed of light.
Another surprise stemming from the research was that unlike typical X-ray emissions from the winds, which are made up mostly of irons atoms, the wind of this Seyfert galaxy is made up mostly of lighter elements such as oxygen.
"I was actually very surprised to discover that this wind is made mostly of oxygen because nobody has seen a galaxy like this before," Longinotti said.
The findings were published in the Nov. 6 issue of Astrophysical Journal Letters.
