UMass: A Powerful Molecular Wind in a Spiral Galaxy

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bystander
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UMass: A Powerful Molecular Wind in a Spiral Galaxy

Post by bystander » Tue Oct 30, 2018 3:53 pm

Researchers Observe a Powerful Molecular Wind in a Spiral Galaxy
University of Massachusetts, Amherst | 2018 Oct 29
An international team of astrophysicists using the Large Millimeter Telescope (LMT) in central Mexico has detected an unexpected and powerful outflow of molecular gas in a distant active galaxy similar to the Milky Way. The galaxy is 800 million light years from Earth. ...

Min S. Yun says that the LMT ... is uniquely suited for detecting a faint, broad line like this observational result and is designed specifically for this type of experiment. “Understanding how frequently the central supermassive black hole disrupts its host galaxy through a yet unknown energetic feedback process is one of the most important unanswered questions in the study of galaxy evolution today, and the LMT with its full 50-meter surface that was just completed, should yield more insights in the coming observing seasons,” he says.

Anna Lia Longinotti ... says “The novelty of this result is that we are seeing feedback in a galaxy where this phenomenon is not expected. The other two galaxies where it was observed are more dust- and gas-rich, whereas this galaxy is a spiral type, therefore more similar to the Milky Way. This discovery opens the path to explore the possibility that active galactic nuclei (AGN) feedback can be produced also by less luminous objects with different characteristics.”

About two years ago ... the presence of ultra-fast outflows of ionized, hot gas at sub-relativistic velocity was reported in this same object, called IRAS 17020+4544. These winds are thought to originate in the accretion disk located around the supermassive black hole that powers luminous active galactic nuclei (quasars). The activity of this type of galaxy is related to the energy released by accretion processes that take place close to the black hole. Despite hosting an active nucleus, this galaxy is considerably less luminous when compared to quasars. ...

Early Science with the Large Millimeter Telescope: An Energy-driven Wind Revealed by
Massive Molecular and Fast X-Ray Outflows in the Seyfert Galaxy IRAS 17020+4544
~ A.L. Longinotti et al
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Re: UMass: A Powerful Molecular Wind in a Spiral Galaxy

Post by neufer » Tue Oct 30, 2018 5:25 pm

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Art Neuendorffer

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Re: UMass: A Powerful Molecular Wind in a Spiral Galaxy

Post by Ann » Wed Oct 31, 2018 5:52 am

M82 with outflows.
Photo: NASA, ESA, and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
Giant gamma ray bubbles in the Milky Way.
Credit: NASA/GSFC


















Just saying. I have long noticed that M82, which is undergoing a starburst in its center, seems to lack star formation in its disk altogether - due to its huge outflows of molecular gas?

And our own galaxy displays two huge gamma ray bubbles on either side of the galactic plane, likely products of some violent event in the center of our galaxy, and, why not, remnants of some large scale outflow?

The Milky Way is not producing a lot of new stars, and is likely transitioning from a "blue starforming galaxy" into a "red and dead one":

Wikipedia wrote:
The red sequnce, the green valley and the blue cloud.
Credit: Joshua Schroeder.
The galaxy color–magnitude diagram shows the relationship between absolute magnitude (a measure of luminosity) and mass of galaxies. A preliminary description of the three areas of this diagram was made in 2003 by Eric F. Bell et al. from the COMBO-17 survey[1] that clarified the bimodal distribution of red and blue galaxies as seen in analysis of Sloan Digital Sky Survey data[2] and even in de Vaucouleurs' 1961 analyses of galaxy morphology.

Noticed in this diagram are three main features: the red sequence, the green valley, and the blue cloud. The red sequence includes most red galaxies which are generally elliptical galaxies. The blue cloud includes most blue galaxies which are generally spirals. In between the two distributions is an underpopulated space known as the green valley which includes a number of red spirals.

...

The Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy are assumed to lie in the green valley because their star formation is slowing down due to running out of gas.
It is possible that the Milky Way is running out of gas because of large-scale past outflows.

Ann
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Re: UMass: A Powerful Molecular Wind in a Spiral Galaxy

Post by neufer » Wed Oct 31, 2018 3:34 pm

Ann wrote: Wed Oct 31, 2018 5:52 am
Wikipedia wrote: The galaxy color–magnitude diagram shows the relationship between absolute magnitude (a measure of luminosity) and mass of galaxies. A preliminary description of the three areas of this diagram was made in 2003 by Eric F. Bell et al. from the COMBO-17 survey that clarified the bimodal distribution of red and blue galaxies as seen in analysis of Sloan Digital Sky Survey data[2] and even in de Vaucouleurs' 1961 analyses of galaxy morphology.

Noticed in this diagram are three main features: the red sequence, the green valley, and the blue cloud. The red sequence includes most red galaxies which are generally elliptical galaxies. The blue cloud includes most blue galaxies which are generally spirals. In between the two distributions is an underpopulated space known as the green valley which includes a number of red spirals.
...
The Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy are assumed to lie in the green valley because their star formation is slowing down due to running out of gas.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Giant



<<"The Valley of the Jolly Green Giant" refers to the Minnesota River valley around Le Sueur. Today, just before dropping down into the valley heading south on U.S. Route 169 an enormous wooden sign of the Jolly Green Giant, along with the Little Green Sprout, is visible with the caption "Welcome to the Valley."

Sixty miles further south on Route 169, in the city of Blue Earth, Minnesota,
stands a [COMBO-]17 m fiberglass statue of the Jolly Green Giant.

:arrow: My idea for this statue had its beginnings with my “Welcome Travelers” program on KBEW. After I’d give my interviewees their gifts of “blue earth” and cans of peas and corn they’d often ask, “Where’s the Green Giant?” Children traveling with their parents expected to see the Giant in the flesh, and would ask me where he was. I liked to have fun with these kids, so I’d treat the Giant like you would Santa Claus on Christmas Eve: “You just missed him,” I’d tell them, their eyes getting wider and wider, “but keep a look out when you get back on the road – he stepped on a car last week!” - Paul Hedberg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Unity wrote: <<The world's tallest statue monument with the height of 182 metres was inaugurated by the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, on 31 October 2018 on the birth anniversary of the first deputy Prime Minister of India Bharat Ratna Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, also known as the Iron Man of India, was a freedom fighter, senior leader, and one of the founding fathers of Republic of India. The statue is located on the river island called Sadhu Bet facing the Narmada Dam near Rajpipla in Indian state of Gujarat.

:arrow: Approximate heights of various notable statues: 1. Statue of Unity 240 m (incl. 58 m base) 2. Spring Temple Buddha 153 m (incl. 25 m pedestal and 20 m throne) 3. Statue of Liberty 93 m (incl. 47 m pedestal) 4. The Motherland Calls 87 m (incl. 2 m pedestal) 5. Christ the Redeemer 38 m (incl. 8 m pedestal)>>
Art Neuendorffer

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