Pushy Black Holes Stop Elliptical Galaxies From Forming Stars

(Before It's News)

Multi-wavelength view of the elliptical galaxy NGC 5044. Credit: Digitised Sky Survey/NASA Chandra/Southern Observatory for Astrophysical Research/Very Large Array (Robert Dunn et al. 2010)

Contradicting past theories, cold gas has been found in abundance in some elliptical galaxies — showing that there must be some other explanation why these types of galaxies don’t form new stars. Astronomers believe that the jets from supermassive black holes in these galaxies’ center must push around the gas and prevent stars from forming.

Researchers spotted the gas for the first time using old data from the recently retired Herschel space observatory, which was able to peer well into the infrared — where it spotted carbon ions and oxygen atoms. This find stands against the previous belief that these galaxies were “red and dead”, referring to their physical appearance and the fact that they form no new stars.

(…)
Read the rest of Pushy Black Holes Stop Elliptical Galaxies From Forming Stars (308 words)

© Elizabeth Howell for Universe Today, 2014. |
Permalink |
No comment |

Post tags: galactic evolution, stanford university

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

• Exoplanet Orbiting Tau Bootis Star Could Have Watery Atmosphere
• First Copernicus Satellite Sentinel-1A Arrives At Europe’s Spaceport In French Guiana
• UAE Islamic affairs, Religion, Science and Power
• New Technique Finds Water in Exoplanet Atmospheres
• Yesterday’s Mammoth Solar Flare Is The Biggest Of 2014 Yet
• A Little Water with your Hot Jupiter?
• Debris Impacts on Sun Analysis | Oklahoma, Yellowstone Swarms | Volcanoes Record Breaking? (Video)
• Water Is Detected In A Planet Outside Our Solar System
• NASA’s SDO Shows Images of Significant Solar Flare
• NASA To Hold Asteroid Initiative Opportunities Forum