An international team of researchers studied the galaxy NGC 4383 in the nearby Virgo cluster, discovering a flow of gas from one side to the other at the speed of light that would last 20,000 years. The discovery was published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Lead author Dr. from the International Center for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) at the University of Western Australia. Adam Watts said the outflow was the result of powerful stellar explosions in the central regions of the galaxy, and these explosions may have ejected large amounts of hydrogen. and heavier elements. The mass of the ejected gas is equivalent to more than 50 million suns.

“So little is known about the physics and properties of streams because it is so difficult to detect flows,” Dr Watts said. “The ejected gas is very rich in heavy elements, giving us a unique insight into the complex process of mixing hydrogen and metals in the escaping gas. “In this particular case, we detected oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur and many other chemical elements.”

Gas outflows are critical in regulating how quickly and for how long galaxies can continue to form stars. Gas from these explosions pollutes interstellar space within and even between galaxies and can float in the intergalactic medium indefinitely.

The high-resolution map was created using data from the MAUVE survey, jointly conducted by ICRAR researchers Professor Barbara Catinella and study co-author Luca Cortese.

The MUSE Integral Field Spectrograph at the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in northern Chile was used for the study.

“We designed MAUVE to investigate how physical processes such as gas ejection help stop star formation in galaxies,” Professor Catinella said.

“NGC 4383 was our first target because we suspected something very interesting was going on, but the data exceeded all our expectations. “We hope that future MAUVE observations will reveal in fine detail the importance of outgassing in the local universe.”