Astronomers think they have discovered a supermassive black hole traveling away from its home galaxy at 4 million mph — so fast it’s not doing what it’s notorious for: sucking light out of the universe.
Perhaps the contrary. This black hole may not be ripping apart stars and swallowing them up, but it is thought to be encouraging new star formation. It leaves a trail of 200,000 light-years across space, which could lead to new stars. Yale University Astronomy Professor Pieter van Dokkum stated that the black hole seems to cause a narrow corridor to form new stars as it rams into the gas. This allows the gas to cool down.
It is not known how it works exactly, according to van Dokkum who led research into the incidentally captured phenomenon by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. Last week, a paper was published on the findings. The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
“What we’re seeing is the aftermath,” he said in a statement. “Like the wake behind a ship, we’re seeing the wake behind the black hole.”
Black holes are one of the most mysterious objects in outer space ….
