Molecular outflow identified in the galaxy NGC 1482

Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), astronomers from Japan have probed a nearby starburst galaxy known as NGC 1482. They detected a molecular gas outflow that could be essential to improving the understanding of the galactic wind in NGC 1482.

At a distance of about 63.9 million light years, NGC 1482 is an early-type galaxy in the Eridanus group of galaxies. It has a central bulge surrounded by a gaseous disk (dust lane), and a warm ionized gas extending perpendicular to the disk.

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Source

Credit: Salak et al., 2020.

ALMA CO (1–0) integrated intensity image of NGC 1482 with KS-band (2MASS) brightness contours in the central region.

Source / Image Courtesy

This simulation follows the collision of two spiral galaxies that harbor giant black holes. The collision merges the black holes and stirs up gas in both galaxies.

The merged black hole gorges on the feast and lights up, forming an active galactic nucleus called a quasar and creating a "wind"" that blows away much of the galaxy's gas. "