Astrophysics: Jellyfish galaxies feeding supermassive black holes
Nature
2017년8월17일
An explanation of how supermassive black holes are fed in ‘jellyfish’ galaxies is proposed in this week’s Nature.
Most galaxies are thought to contain a supermassive black hole at their centres, but only a few are accumulating, or accreting, matter, producing highly energetic active galactic nuclei (AGN). Jellyfish galaxies are characterized by long ‘tentacles’ of gas and newly born stars that make them resemble their aquatic animal namesakes. These features are thought to be indicative of gas being stripped away owing to the motion of the galaxy through the intracluster medium (the gas that exists between galaxies in clusters of galaxies), a process known as ram-pressure stripping.
Bianca Poggianti and colleagues observe seven jellyfish galaxies and report the presence of AGN in six of these. The authors propose that the ram pressure responsible for stripping gas from these galaxies could also funnel gas towards the central supermassive black hole, triggering AGN activity.
doi: 10.1038/nature23462
리서치 하이라이트
-
7월29일
Engineering: Just add water to activate a disposable paper batteryScientific Reports
-
7월26일
Physics: Slab avalanche origin similar to that of earthquakesNature Physics
-
7월13일
Planetary science: Origins of one of the oldest martian meteorites identifiedNature Communications
-
7월12일
Astronomy: Casualty risk from uncontrolled rocket re-entries assessedNature Astronomy
-
7월12일
Physics: Beam vibrations used to measure ‘big G’Nature Physics
-
7월6일
Biotechnology: Mice cloned from freeze-dried somatic cellsNature Communications