Galaxy Blows a Hot Self-Regulating Wind express
In the heart of the Perseus galaxy cluster lives the galaxy NGC 1275. From its core blows a wind of superheated gas — astronomers have now seen it in detail for the first time.
The wind shows up in the glow of hydrogen and oxygen. It accelerates to 570 kilometers per second — faster than a bullet. Each year, the galaxy ejects roughly 2.7 solar masses. At the same time, about the same amount of cold gas falls toward the center. So the galaxy keeps itself in balance: as much matter comes in as goes out.
Alongside the wind, a jet also works — a narrow stream of particles blasting from near the black hole. Where the jet passes, the gas glows differently. But both the wind and the jet act only within two thousand light-years of the center. Farther out, their influence fades.
This is how the galaxy in the Perseus cluster shows the endless dialogue between a black hole and the gas around it: one blows, the other falls.
The wind from NGC 1275's core reaches 570 km/s — in one hour, such a flow would cover the distance from Earth to the Moon.