Illustration: A spiralling, dense wind, detected by ALMA, could help scientists understand why supermassive black holes are as massive as they are (IMAGE)
Caption
A spiralling wind helps the supermassive black hole in galaxy ESO320-G030 to grow, assisted by magnetic fields. In this illustration, the core of the galaxy is dominated by a rotating wind of dense gas leading outwards from the (hidden) supermassive black hole at the galaxy’s very centre. The motions of the gas, traced by light from molecules of hydrogen cyanide have been measured with the ALMA telescope.
Credit
M. D. Gorski/Aaron M. Geller, Northwestern University, CIERA, the Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics.
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