Supermassive Black Holes the Source of Galactic Outbursts

Supermassive black holes are the source of many galactic outbursts in the Universe, according to new research that helped solve a longstanding mystery.

And no, I don't mean an outburst like some sort of celestial temper tantrum. Each year, various galaxies blast outward from their centers huge, wide-angled flows of material - pushing to their outer edges so much dust and gas that it could create more than a thousand stars the size of our Sun. Astronomers have long wondered what is the driving force behind these massive molecular outflows - that is, until now.

Researchers from the University of Maryland (UMD) have found the first observational evidence that a supermassive black hole at the center of a large galaxy can power these huge molecular outbursts. According to the new findings published in the journal Nature, these outflows remove massive quantities of star-making gas, which in turn influences the size, shape and overall fate of the host galaxy.

"The temptation is to ignore the supermassive black hole when studying galactic dynamics and evolution, but our study shows that you can't because it influences galaxies on the larger scale," co-author Marcio Meléndez said in a statement. (Scroll to read on...)