ISTANBUL

Astronomers have observed for the first time a supermassive black hole’s flare unleashing a powerful, relativistic-speed wind into space, according to a study published Tuesday.

Research published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics said researchers detected an ultrafast outflow traveling at 19% of the speed of light, around 57,000 kilometers (34,417 miles) per second.

It marks the first time scientists have captured the flare from a supermassive black hole and the development of the high-speed wind it released.

"For the first time, we've seen how a rapid burst of X-ray light from a black hole immediately triggers ultra-fast winds, with these winds forming in just a single day,” said Liyi Gu, one of the authors of the study and astronomer of the Space Research Organization Netherlands (SRON).

Gu and his team examined the NGC 3783 galaxy and its black hole using simultaneous observations from the European Space Agency’s (ESA) XMM-Newton and XRISM, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency-led(JAXA) X-ray mission supported by ESA and NASA.

The black hole, weighing 30 million times the mass of the sun, feeds on surrounding matter and fuels a highly luminous, energetic core at the center of the spiral galaxy.

The Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN) emits radiation across the spectrum and launches intense jets and winds into space.​​​​​​​