Astronomers Capture First Detailed View of Hot Gas Swirling Around Black Holes

The presence of giant black holes in the center of most galaxies has long been suspected, but their effect has been a mystery. Now, using the new XRISM X-ray satellite launched by Japan, scientists have been able to create the first-ever map of the hot gas surrounding two giant black holes, one in the Virgo galaxy and the other in the Perseus galaxy, and discovered extreme turbulence in both, as if each black hole is at the center of “its own storm.”

Turbulence in galaxy clusters

According to one study, focused on the nearby Virgo Cluster (home to M87*, a famous supermassive black hole). XRISM's data revealed record-breaking turbulence in the cluster's hot gas. Gas speeds were highest near the black hole and fell off quickly with distance. As UChicago astronomer Hannah McCall notes, the fastest motions likely come from swirling eddies and shock waves driven by the black hole's powerful jets. Researchers also studied the Perseus Cluster and found a similar velocity boost at its core from the central black hole — superimposed on larger-scale gas flows from an ongoing cluster merger.

Slowing star formation

The cores of these clusters are surprisingly poor in stars. The new data from XRISM offers a possible answer: the turbulence stirred up by the central black holes heats up the gas, making it too hot to condense into new stars. Indeed, the energy of the turbulence measured in the observations seems sufficient to counteract the rapid cooling that would otherwise trigger star formation. A small part of the gas is consumed; the rest is ejected in the form of hot jets and winds, which keep heating up the gas in the cluster.