=EDITORIAL USE ONLY. MATERIALS ONLY TO BE USED IN CONJUNCTION WITH EDITORIAL STORY. THE USE OF THESE MATERIALS FOR ADVERTISING, MARKETING OR ANY OTHER COMMERCIAL PURPOSE IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED. MATERIAL COPYRIGHT REMAINS WITH NASA.
NASA'S Hubble Space Telescope has observed the biggest outflows of energy in the known universe, a team of astronomers has announced. The outflows are spewing from so-called quasars, which are extremely active galactic cores 1,000 times brighter than the millions of stars their host galaxies house. With the aid of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, a team of astronomers has found 13 of these powerful blasts across the universe. The outflows tear through the galaxies at breakneck speeds, "like tsunamis, wreaking havoc" on the galaxies in which they reside. According to NASA, the quasars each contain supermassive black holes fuelled by the matter falling towards them. As the matter falls towards the black holes, scorching gases surround the well of gravity and release radiation. The quasars then release cosmic winds from the black hole, pushing material away from the galaxy's centre. The outflows rush out of the galaxies at velocities approaching the speed of light. Nahum Arav of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, principal investigator, said: "No other phenomena carries more mechanical energy. "Over the lifetime of 10 million years, these outflows produce a million times more energy than a gamma-ray burst. "The winds are pushing hundreds of solar masses of material each year. "The amount of mechanical energy that these outflows carry is up to several hundreds of times higher than the luminosity of the entire Milky Way galaxy." When: 10 Mar 2020 Credit: NASA/ESA/J. Olmsted (STScI)/Cover Images **EDITORIAL USE ONLY. MATERIALS ONLY TO BE USED IN CONJUNCTION WITH EDITORIAL STORY. THE USE OF THESE MATERIALS FOR ADVERTISING, MARKETING OR ANY OTHER COMMERCIAL PURPOSE IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED. MATERIAL COPYRIGHT REMAINS WITH NASA.**
