Milky Way shooting out cold and dense gas from galactic centre 'like bullets': Study

As the outer space continues to baffle the scientists with its unique characteristics, researchers have recently discovered a previously unknown cold gas being ejected from the centre of our galaxy, the Milky Way.

As per the study published in journal Nature, the scientists have no clue about the source of the strange gas that is being shot “like bullets” from the chaotic galactic centre. Even though the astronomers have not derived the source, it can have critical implications on the future of the Milky Way. 

The authors wrote, “Here we report observations of molecular gas outflowing from the centre of our Galaxy. This cold material is associated with atomic hydrogen clouds travelling in the nuclear wind”.

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Professor Naomi McClure-Griffiths from the Australian National University noted the ability of galaxies to ‘shoot themselves in the foot’. Further elaborating about the cold gas, she said that when a galaxy drives out a significant amount of mass, the same material can be used to form the stars. However, when enough of it is lost, the galaxy becomes unable to form stars anymore. According to her, it is “kind of exciting” to be able to see indications of the Milky Way losing this star-forming gas from the supermassive black hole. 

As per the study, “The data also suggest that the mass of the molecular gas outflow is not negligible and could affect the rate of star formation in the central regions of the Galaxy.”

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Questions about Milky Way’s centre

The new study has even raised a few questions about the centre of the Milky Way. McClure-Griffiths noted that since the discovery of ‘Fermi bubbles’ that are filled with hot gas and cosmic rays, the centre of the galaxy had been mysterious. According to her, the researchers have now detected cold and dense gas coming out from the galactic centre but because they are heavier, the gas comes out easily. 

"We don't know how either the black hole or the star formation can produce this phenomenon. We're still looking for the smoking gun, but it gets more complicated the more we learn about it," added Dr Enrico Di Teodoro, the lead author on the study, from Johns Hopkins University.

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Image: Representational