A black hole inside a distant spiral galaxy is devouring material from the universe around it and creating winds at speeds never before seen by astronomers.
The European Space Agency said that the black hole inside NGC 3783 has the mass of 30 million suns. The black hole consumes nearby material to power an active galactic nucleus at the center of the galaxy, the ESA said in a news release . The nucleus is "an extremely bright and active region" that sends out powerful jets and winds, the agency said.
One powerful wind was measured at 60,000 kilometers per second, or 130 million piles per hour, about 20% of the speed of light.
"We've not watched a black hole create winds this speedily before," said Liyi Gu at Space Research Organisation Netherlands (SRON), in a statement. Gu led the international research team. "For the first time, we've seen how a rapid burst of X-ray light from a black hole immediately triggers ultra-fast winds, with these winds forming in just a single day."
