Miguel Pereira-Santaella

At the center of nearly every large galaxy sits a supermassive black hole. It pulls in gas and dust, and a bright disk swirls around it. But the James Webb Telescope looked further out — into a region where the black hole's light is weaker, yet the dust still glows. Astronomers examined eight galaxies.

At the heart of nearly every large galaxy lurks a supermassive black hole. As it devours gas, it blasts powerful outflows back into space, like a dragon that can't swallow all its prey and breathes fire. These 'winds' accelerate to thousands of kilometers per second and can sweep away the gas reservoirs from which stars are born.

At the center of every large galaxy, including our own Milky Way, resides a supermassive black hole. It doesn't just sit there — sometimes it pulls in gas and dust, and part of that material is blasted back out in powerful outflows. These outflows, or "winds," carry material far from the center and affect the entire galaxy.

The heart of many galaxies is a supermassive black hole. It doesn't just sit at the center; it occasionally flares brightly as it swallows surrounding gas.