Researchers found that the energy associated with these black hole winds is about 100 times greater than earlier estimates. The finding reveals that black holes can affect vast regions of the universe on an extraordinary scale.

“Black holes are well known for sucking in matter, but they can also emit gas in the form of powerful winds,” says Satoshi Yamada, assistant professor at Tohoku University’s Frontier Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Sciences (FRIS). “These winds were thought to be contained within galaxies, but our research reveals that their forces are much stronger than previously understood.”

XRISM reveals powerful winds from a distant quasar

Yamada and colleagues from Kanazawa University and Tokyo Metropolitan University studied the quasar H1821+643 using the X-ray astronomical satellite XRISM. The object is located in the constellation Draco, about 3.4 billion light-years from Earth.

Quasars are extremely bright cosmic objects powered by supermassive black holes that are actively consuming gas. As matter falls toward a black hole, it releases enormous amounts of energy, allowing quasars to shine across vast distances.

The rapidly growing black hole at the center of H1821+643 lies within a galaxy cluster. Its activity stirs the surrounding hot gas and produces X-rays. To determine how that gas was moving, the researchers analyzed emission lines produced by iron ions.

Black hole turbulence extends beyond its host galaxy

XRISM’s high-precision measurements show that the extremely hot gas surrounding the black hole is not static. Instead, turbulence violently disperses the gas across a wide region.

The researchers found that this flow extends beyond the black hole’s host galaxy, reaching about 300,000 light-years. Even more surprisingly, the energy contained in the turbulence was approximately 100 times greater than previously estimated.

That energy is comparable to the output of billions of supernovae, the powerful explosions that occur when certain stars reach the ends of their lives.

“We have shown for the first time that black holes influence the broader cosmic environment through shock waves of amazing power,” Yamada added. “Black holes are the main drivers of gas flow and motion in the universe, transporting vast amounts of energy to different regions of the universe.”

Supermassive black holes may shape galaxy clusters

The findings suggest that supermassive black holes do more than consume nearby matter. They can also send energy and gas far into the surrounding universe, potentially helping shape the environments around galaxies and galaxy clusters.

Details of the study were published in the journal Nature Astronomy.

Future observations are expected to provide a clearer picture of how black holes affect their surroundings and how matter and elements move through different regions of the universe.