Galactic Bubbles: How Black Holes Paint the Cosmos ⚡ экспресс
Galactic bubbles are like soap bubbles: they are blown by jets from the central black hole. Simulations show that this is exactly how the mysterious bubbles in the neighboring Circinus galaxy formed. This means that the huge Fermi bubbles in our own Galaxy could have formed in the same way. Imagine an invisible force blowing up cosmic clouds—and reshaping the entire galaxy!
In a blacksmith's forge, a blast of air fans the glowing coals, and shock waves blow bubbles of hot gas. In galaxy centers, a supermassive black hole drives the same process. Its narrow plasma jets, like bellows, punch through the surrounding space and create bubbles visible in X-rays.
Astrophysicists simulated how the mysterious bubbles in the galaxy Circinus form and tested three scenarios: black hole jets, winds from an active nucleus, and starburst explosions.
Comparing virtual X-ray images with real ones showed a match even in color composition — studied through spectroscopy (splitting light into colors). So black holes act as the chief sculptors of such structures, using only a tiny fraction of their matter — yet their creations stretch for thousands of light-years.
🎯 The energy of these bubbles rivals the combined radiation of hundreds of millions of stars, yet it all comes from a region no larger than the Solar System.