Astronomers have developed the first map of the remains of a massive explosion in a nearby galaxy, providing valuable information about how intergalactic space is enriched with chemical elements.
An international team of scientists has explored the galaxy NGC4383 in a close place Virgo massRevealing a gas flow so large that it takes light 20,000 years to travel from one side to the other.
This flow of gas is the result of very powerful stellar explosions in the central regions GalaxiesWhich can release huge amounts of hydrogen and heavier elements. The mass of gas emitted is equivalent to the mass of more than 50 million suns.
Lead author PublicationsVery little is known about the physics and properties of the outflows because they are so difficult to detect, said Dr Adam Watts from the University of Western Australia's International Center for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR).
The gas released is very rich in heavy elements, giving us a unique look at the complex process of mixing hydrogen and metals in liquid gas. In this particular case, we can detect oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur and many other chemical elements.
Gas outflows are key to regulating how quickly and how long stars form in galaxies. The gas emitted from these explosions pollutes interstellar space in the galaxy and even between galaxies, and can float in space. Galactic center Forever.
The high-resolution map was developed based on data from Violet review. A spectrometer was used in the study MUSE integrated field spectrometer actually Very large telescope Located in Chile.
ICRAR researchers Professors Barbara Catinella and Luca Cortez, co-authors of the study and MAUVE co-investigators, said: We designed MAUVE to study how physical processes, such as gas flows, help stop star formation in galaxies.
NGC 4383 was our first target because we suspected something interesting was going on, but the data exceeded all our expectations.
In the future, MAUVE observations could reveal the importance of gas outflows in the local universe in extraordinary detail.
development:
Agnieszka Novak
more information:
Source: Ikrar
Pictured: Gas (marked in red above and below) is being ejected from nearby galaxy NGC 4383. Source: Watts et al., 2024
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