By Stephen Beech via SWNS
A huge explosion in a nearby galaxy saw a mass of gas ejected equivalent to more than 50 MILLION suns, say scientists.
The first high-resolution map of the enormous blast has been produced by astronomers.
They say it provides important clues on how the space between galaxies is polluted with chemical elements.
An international team studied galaxy NGC 4383, in the nearby Virgo cluster, revealing a gas outflow so big that it would take 20,000 years for light to travel from one side to the other.
Lead author Dr. Adam Watts explained that the outflow was the result of powerful stellar explosions in the central regions of the galaxy that could eject enormous amounts of hydrogen and heavier elements.
He says the mass of gas ejected is equivalent to more than 50 million Suns.
Dr Watts, from The University of Western Australia, said: “Very little is known about the physics of outflows and their properties because outflows are very hard to detect.
“The ejected gas is quite rich in heavy elements giving us a unique view of the complex process of mixing between hydrogen and metals in the outflowing gas.
“In this particular case, we detected oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur and many other chemical elements.”
He said gas outflows are “crucial” to regulate how fast and for how long galaxies can keep forming stars.
Dr. Watts said: “The gas ejected by these explosions pollutes the space between stars within a galaxy, and even between galaxies, and can float in the intergalactic medium forever.”
Production of the high-resolution map was co-led by International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) Professors Barbara Catinella and Luca Cortese.
The survey used the MUSE Integral Field Spectrograph on the European Southern Observatoryʼs Very Large Telescope, located in northern Chile.
Professor Catinella said: “NGC 4383 was our first target, as we suspected something very interesting was happening, but the data exceeded all our expectations.”
She added: “We hope that in the future, observations reveal the importance of gas outflows in the local Universe with exquisite detail.”
The findings were published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
