black hole (Photo : Reuters)
NASA's NuSTAR telescope and ESA's (European Space Agency) XMM-Newton telescope show that super-fast winds from black holes contain very ionized atoms. The winds blow in an almost circular manner.
Until now, scientists suspected a black hole's winds blew in this fashion. They're now certain due to the observations made by the telescopes.
The winds are so powerful they can prevent the galaxy they're in from producing new stars. According to Fiona Harrison from Caltech, scientists can now determine how powerful the black holes' winds are, according to NASA.
In recent research, scientists studied PDS 456, a quasar (or a super bright black hole) over two billion light years from Earth. Its winds contain more energy every second than over a trillion suns give off.
NASA also released an illustration of the winds and radiation the black hole emitted. The winds are created as the black hole draws in matter. They force gas outward, and thus help to limit the black hole's growth and stars' development in the galaxy.
NuSTAR and XMM-Newton observed PDS 456 at the same time five times during 2013 and 2014. The two telescopes observed different portions of the light spectrum.
Past observations of the XMM-Newton had observed black hole winds blowing towards Earth. Scientists were unable to conclude if the winds blew in every direction.
This was because scientists located traces of iron peppered on each side of the black hole. One scientist at ESA observed the recent discovery is an excellent example of synergy between XMM-Newton and NuSTAR.
These findings were published in the newest issue of Science journal, according to Time.
