Data from the James Webb Space Telescope has revealed that supermassive black holes can effectively "kill" galaxies by destroying the gas needed for star formation.
An international team led by the University of Cambridge studied a galaxy formed two billion years after the Big Bang using the Webb Telescope. This galaxy, which has a supermassive black hole at its center, was found to be "quenched," meaning star formation had largely ceased. The black hole was discovered to be ejecting gas from the galaxy at high speeds, halting the formation of new stars.
Dr. Francesco D'Eugenio, a co-leader of the research team, explained, "Based on previous observations, we knew that this galaxy had stopped forming stars, and we suspected this was related to the black hole. But we couldn't confirm this link until Webb."
This galaxy, officially named GS-10578, is also referred to as "Pablo's Galaxy" after one of the observing scientists. The galaxy has a mass roughly 200 billion times that of the Sun, and most of its stars were formed between 12.5 and 11.5 billion years ago.
*GAS FLOW DUE TO THE BLACK HOLE'S INFLUENCE*
Another co-author of the study, Professor Roberto Maiolino, remarked, "It's fascinating to see such a large 'dead' galaxy so early in the universe. The process that stopped star formation must have happened rapidly." Observations made with the Webb Telescope show that the galaxy is ejecting large amounts of gas at a speed of 1,000 kilometers per second. This speed allows the gas to escape the galaxy's gravitational pull.
*A BLACK HOLE THAT STOPPED STAR FORMATİON*
The team found that the black hole was expelling gas from the galaxy, which prevented the formation of new stars. D'Eugenio noted, "This black hole is killing the galaxy by cutting off the 'nourishment' it needs to form stars."
This new discovery sheds more light on the influence of black holes on galaxies and brings scientists a step closer to understanding how black holes can stop star formation in galaxies. The researchers plan to conduct further observations with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) to determine if there is still gas hidden within the galaxy that could support star formation and to clarify how the supermassive black hole is affecting the galaxy's surroundings.
