The 'Perfect Storm' for Halting Star Birth Around a Black Hole

Astronomers may have found the "perfect storm" for ending star formation. Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), they've discovered that turbulence around a modest central black hole is halting star formation in a region that would otherwise be the perfect star factory.

The turbulence, in this case, is caused by jets from the galaxy's central black hole slamming into an incredibly dense envelope of gas. This dense region, which is possibly the result of a recent merger with another smaller galaxy, blocks nearly 98 percent of material propelled by the jets from escaping the galactic center. Without this material, stars are unable to form.

"Like an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object, the particles in these jets meet so much resistance when they hit the surrounding dense gas that they are almost completely stopped in their  tracks," said Katherine Alatalo, lead author of the new paper, in a news release. "So what we see is the most intense suppression of star formation ever observed."

The galaxy itself where this event is occurred is called NGC 1266. Previous observations revealed a broad outflow of gas from the galactic center that's as forceful as the simultaneous supernova explosion of 10,000 stars. The jets, powerful enough to stir the gas, though, are not powerful enough to give it the velocity to escape from the system. Essentially, the jets are keeping the gas from settling down, collapsing and forming stars.

What's interesting is that the jets aren't powerful enough to eject gas from the galaxy. Previously, scientists assumed that this needed to be the case for jets to be effective at stopping star formation. Obviously, that's not so.

The findings reveal a bit more about galaxy evolution. More specifically, it shows how star formation can be squelched more easily than first expected.

The findings are published in The Astrophysical Journal.

For more great science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN).