Black hole near Earth ‘burping’ gas

BLACK holes are known for swallowing gas and stars but astronomers say they have observed one near Earth “burping” gas back out.

Black hole in the nebula

BLACK holes are known for swallowing gas and stars but astronomers say they have observed one “burping” gas back out.

CNN reports that two huge waves of gas were being expelled from a massive black hole in NGC 5195 — a galaxy 26 million light years from Earth. It is one of the closest “supermassive” black holes to Earth.

University of Texas’s Eric Schlegel, who led the study, told NASA that he believes that the “burping” was because of the interaction of NGC 5195 with a larger galaxy. He said the interaction formed new stars.

“Apparently, black holes can also burp after their meal,” he said. “Our observation is important because this behaviour would likely happen very often in the early universe, altering the evolution of galaxies. It is common for big black holes to expel gas outward, but rare to have such a close, resolved view of these events.”

The team involved in the discovery said they believe the burping, or feedback, may play an important role in the solar system.

“We think that feedback keeps galaxies from becoming too large,” said Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CFA)’s Marie Machacek, a co-author of the study. “But at the same time, it can be responsible for how some stars form. This shows that black holes can create, not just destroy.”

According to the team the burp happened a few million years ago.