NASA continues to unravel the mysteries of the universe. Or at least, it resolves scientific doubts. One of the most powerful black holes in the universe is expelling gas at speeds of up to 10,000 kilometers per second, making its estimated mass more than 10 times smaller than previously thought. NASA scientists have just detected this phenomenon. It’s a superstorm unleashed by a supermassive black hole in the galaxy. The cosmos is no stranger to violent events, but every now and then, astronomers witness something so colossal that it forces them to rethink how the universe works. And this is precisely the most exciting thing about these kinds of discoveries.
These giants can be millions or even billions of times larger than our Sun
Unlike the storm known on Earth, this one moves gas through space at nearly a third of the speed of light, fast enough to transform the cosmic landscape of the universe. This gigantic black hole was discovered in 2024 by Associate Professor Christian Wolf and his team at the Australian National University (ANU). These giants can be millions or even billions of times larger than our Sun. In other words, the power is truly astronomical.
“Rather than spinning rapidly as previously assumed, this black hole is ejecting the gas it feeds on”
Digging deeper into the topic, according to scientists, at the center of most galaxies lies a supermassive black hole. “Despite the quasar’s extreme luminosity, the black hole at its core was found to have a mass equivalent to ‘only’ about a billion suns,” Associate Professor Wolf stated in a statement. In this case, NASA observed the gas bullets shooting out at 30% the speed of lightning. That’s equivalent to about 90,000 kilometers per second—enough speed to orbit the Earth 2,000 times in less than a second. “Rather than spinning rapidly as previously assumed, this black hole is ejecting the gas it feeds on. The gas is being pulled in by the ferocious density of light; this is the brightest object in the universe that we know of,” the experts note.
The speed of the gas bullets alone challenges what scientists thought possible
The black hole is currently more than 12 billion light-years away, making it difficult to study its internal structure—until now. Superstorms have been detected before, but only a few reach this intensity. The speed of the gas bullets alone challenges what scientists thought possible for black hole-driven winds. “This points to a solution to the question of where all these enormous black holes in the universe come from,” Associate Professor Wolf said.
This storm could also explain why some galaxies stop forming stars and why others ignite with new bursts of activity
The data, therefore, suggest that these storms are not an unusual burst of chaos, but rather a key mechanism in the formation of galaxies and their surroundings. In this way, galactic superstorms redraw the map of the universe; they cause changes in the places where stars are born, where galaxies expand, and where light will shine for billions of years. This storm could also explain why some galaxies stop forming stars and why others ignite with new bursts of activity.
With discoveries like these, some 100 questions are answered and 200 more are resolved
These kinds of discoveries make even more tangible the fact that the Universe is tremendously vast, that it hides millions of secrets, and that it is anything but static. And in this case, with NASA’s discovery, while the storm seems destructive, it is a generator of cosmic renewal, laying the foundation for the next cycle of creation. With discoveries like these, some 100 questions are answered and 200 more are resolved.
