Artist’s illustration of turbulent winds of gas swirling around a black hole. Some of the gas is spiraling inward, but some is being blown away.
New research led by astrophysicists at York University has revealed the fastest winds ever seen at UV wavelengths near a supermassive black hole. “We’re talking wind speeds of 20% the speed of light, which is more than 200 million kilometres an hour. That’s equivalent to a category 77 hurricane,” says Jesse Rogerson, York U. “And we have reason to believe that there are quasar winds that are even faster.”
Astronomers have known about the existence of quasar winds since the late 1960s. At least 1 in 4 quasars have them...
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