Everyone knows that nothing can escape a black hole, right?
Actually, as I noted last year:
Now, scientists have found a black hole which shoots out jets of gas and highly energetic particles into a neighboring galaxy, speeding up star formation in nearby clouds of matter.Scientists say they have discovered a black hole in a distant galaxy that spouted water in a powerful jet:
Indeed, scientists say that "surveys of ... younger galaxies show that ... about 5% have powerful water masers".
As Wired reports:
Astronomers have spied a distant black hole in the act of creating the galaxy that will eventually become its home.
By sending a jet of gas and highly energetic particles into a neighboring galaxy, the black hole has touched off star formation at a rate 100 times the galactic average.
“Our study suggests that supermassive black holes can trigger the formation of stars, thus ‘building’ their own host galaxies,” David Elbaz, lead author of a paper on the work in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics, said in a press release. “This link could also explain why galaxies hosting larger black holes have more stars.”
I am not sure whether the water, gas and particles emanate from inside the black holes themselves, or from right outside the black holes. I haven't interviewed the scientists who made the above-described discoveries. If the later, consider this poetic license.
For more mind-blowing science facts, see:
