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In the universe, there is a very peculiar class of galaxies. Because the disk surface of such galaxies drags a large amount of filamentous gaseous material, like a super jellyfish that only travels in space, it is called jellyfish galaxy. Incredibly, the tentacles of the Jellyfish Galaxy can be tens of thousands of light-years long.
How are these super jellyfish made? In fact, they originate from a process in the universe called stamping and stripping.
In a galaxy cluster, a strong gravitational pull causes galaxies to move at high speeds, and these high-speed moving galaxies interact with the hot and dense gas in the cluster, as if they were hit by high winds. This gust of wind is enough to blow the gaseous material inside the galaxy away from the disk surface of the galaxy, thus forming a series of slender wakes. At the same time, this process will also induce the birth of a large number of stars in the galaxy, forming a starburst phenomenon.
Obviously, if scientists want to delve into the peeling off gas from galaxies, jellyfish galaxies are excellent targets. To this end, an Italian-led astronomy team used multi-element spectral detector (MUSE) equipment on the OutramTai Telescope to study jellyfish galaxies in neighboring galaxy clusters.
Interestingly, the researchers made an unexpected discovery in this study — that of the seven jellyfish galaxies they studied, 6 supermassive black holes were frantically devouring the surrounding gas. Compared to ordinary galaxies, this proportion is unusually high.
Bianca Poggianti, the study's lead, said the stamping stripping process could have a strong association with active black holes, which had not been noticed before. Through this mechanism, the supermassive black hole in the center of the galaxy seems to have acquired more gaseous material instead.
The question has long been on the minds of astronomers — why are only a small fraction of the supermassive black holes in the center of galaxies active in the universe? This study may provide some new clues that reveal a previously unknown mechanism for eating on supermassive black holes.
It is worth mentioning that this research is only part of a larger scientific research program, and there are more jellyfish galaxies being observed. Next, scientists should have more interesting discoveries.