Supermassive black hole seen 'giving birth' to stars in universe-first, study finds

dailystar.co.uk:

black hole "giving birth" to stars through the Hubble telescope, a bombshell study has found.Boffins say they saw the incredible moment, believed to be a universe-first, where stars were seen tethered to a black hole near a dwarf galaxy.The supermassive black hole, roughly 34 million light-years away in the Henize 2-10 galaxy, was spewing out gases at a million mph, contributing to a new "firestorm" of new star formations.The remarkable discovery is unique, showing black hole birthing stars for the first time ever.Study co-author and astrophysicist at Montana State University, Amy Reines, said: "From the beginning, I knew something unusual and special was happening in Henize 2-10, and now Hubble has provided a very clear picture of the connection between the black hole and a neighbouring star-forming region".The statement continued: "Hubble's amazing resolution clearly shows a corkscrew-like pattern in the velocities of the gas, which we can fit to the model of a precessing, or wobbling, outflow from a black hole."A thin tendril was observed by astronomers coming out of the black hole and across space to a nursery of newly-formed stars.Lead author of the study, Zachary Schutte, a graduate from Montana State University, said in the statement: "The additional surprise was that, rather than suppressing star formation, the outflow was triggering the birth of new stars".Black holes inhale material from nearby gases and spew out jets, throwing streams of plasma out at nearly the speed of light.If heated to the right temperature, the gas clouds that make contact with the jet can become ideal nurseries for future stars.Hitting the right temperature is difficult, as if the gas clouds heat up too much, they can lose their ability.