Scientists have spotted a massive explosion of cosmic gas in the centre of a galaxy which has released cosmic material worth 50 million suns in the universe. The gigantic outburst, which is known as a "gas outflow," is nearly 20,000 light-years across almost a fifth of the entire Milky Way galaxy's diameter, as per a new paper published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Scientists have spotted a massive explosion of cosmic gas in the centre of a galaxy which has released cosmic material worth 50 million suns in the universe. The gigantic outburst, which is known as a "gas outflow," is nearly 20,000 light-years across almost a fifth of the entire Milky Way galaxy's diameter, as per a new paper published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Also Read: Space trash threatens Earth's magnetic field The scientists discovered this strange astronomical phenomenon when it occurred in the galaxy NGC 4383, which is around 54,000,000 light-years away from the nearby Virgo cluster as the gas flowed out from the galaxy at a rate of over 447,000 miles per hour. What are gas outflows and when do they occur? The gas outflows take place when large amounts of gas get blown out from one galaxy into intergalactic space and they are generally driven by some energetic cosmic events like supernovae. Such gas outflows can have a major impact on their host galaxies by regulating the formation of stars. Through the ejection of gas from the galaxy, the outflows limit the material available for new stars which affects the growth and structure of the galaxy. Such gas outflows also fill the space between the galaxies with the heavy elements which have been produced inside stars. This particular outflow is said to have occurred because of huge stellar explosions near the centre of NGC 4383 that ejected major amounts of hydrogen gas as well as other elements. As per the paper, nearly 50 million suns' worth of gas was released from these explosions. "Very little is known about the physics of outflows and their properties because outflows are very hard to detect," said study co-author Adam Watts, who is an astrophysicist at the University of Western Australia and the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR), in a statement. Watch: China 'militarising' space? "The ejected gas is quite rich in heavy elements giving us a unique view of the complex process of mixing between hydrogen and metals in the outflowing gas," he stated. "In this particular case, we detected oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur and many other chemical elements," he added. In the research paper, the scientists have revealed a high-resolution map of the explosion through which they plan to decode the mysteries of how chemical elements have polluted the space between galaxies, and how the loss of this gas has impacted the galaxies. (With inputs from agencies)

Cosmic explosion in centre of galaxy releases massive gas which may create 50 million suns

The largest explosion in space has been witnessed by a team of astronomers led by the University of Southampton. Experts said that the observed explosion is more than 10 times brighter than any known supernova (exploding star) and around three times brighter than the brightest tidal disruption event — a cosmic event in which the star falls into a supermassive black hole. The explosion lasted for three years.&nbsp;

The results were published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, which presented the multiwavelength observations of the explosive event dubbed as AT2021lwx - which is the most luminous of such flares ever detected and traced to eight billion years away from Earth and occurred when the universe was just six billion years old.&nbsp;

As quoted by The Guardian, Dr Philip Wiseman, who is a Research Fellow at the University of Southampton, "We came upon this by chance, as it was flagged by our search algorithm when we were searching for a type of supernova."&nbsp;

Dr Wiseman, who led the research, said "We've estimated it’s a fireball 100 times the size of the solar system with a brightness about 2tn times the sun's. In three years, this event has released about 100 times as much energy as the sun will in its 10bn-year lifetime."&nbsp;

The conclusion of the study noted that AT2021lwx is an "extraordinary event" that does not fit into any common class of transient. It is one of the most luminous transients ever discovered with a total radiated energy greater than 1053 erg. The conclusion was made after collecting and analysing multiwavelength photometry and spectroscopy of the transient.&nbsp;

The team of astronomers think that AT2021lwx may be the result of a black hole violently disrupting a cloud of gas, but they also mentioned that further mentioned that they need to follow it up to reveal more about the scenario that caused the flare, and the community is strongly encouraged to search for similar events in both the future and in archival data.&nbsp;

The Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) based in Hawaii picked AT2021lwx after it was first spotted by the Zwicky Transient Facility in California in 2020.&nbsp;

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The largest explosion in space has been witnessed by a team of astronomers led by the University of Southampton. Experts said that the observed explosion is more than 10 times brighter than any known supernova (exploding star) and around three times brighter than the brightest tidal disruption event — a cosmic event in which the star falls into a supermassive black hole.

The largest explosion in space has been witnessed by a team of astronomers led by the University of Southampton. Experts said that the observed explosion is more than 10 times brighter than any known supernova (exploding star) and around three times brighter than the brightest tidal disruption event — a cosmic event in which the star falls into a supermassive black hole. The explosion lasted for three years. The results were published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, which presented the multiwavelength observations of the explosive event dubbed as AT2021lwx - which is the most luminous of such flares ever detected and traced to eight billion years away from Earth and occurred when the universe was just six billion years old. As quoted by The Guardian, Dr Philip Wiseman, who is a Research Fellow at the University of Southampton, "We came upon this by chance, as it was flagged by our search algorithm when we were searching for a type of supernova." Dr Wiseman, who led the research, said "We've estimated it’s a fireball 100 times the size of the solar system with a brightness about 2tn times the sun's. In three years, this event has released about 100 times as much energy as the sun will in its 10bn-year lifetime." The conclusion of the study noted that AT2021lwx is an "extraordinary event" that does not fit into any common class of transient. It is one of the most luminous transients ever discovered with a total radiated energy greater than 1053 erg. The conclusion was made after collecting and analysing multiwavelength photometry and spectroscopy of the transient. The team of astronomers think that AT2021lwx may be the result of a black hole violently disrupting a cloud of gas, but they also mentioned that further mentioned that they need to follow it up to reveal more about the scenario that caused the flare, and the community is strongly encouraged to search for similar events in both the future and in archival data. The Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) based in Hawaii picked AT2021lwx after it was first spotted by the Zwicky Transient Facility in California in 2020. WATCH WION LIVE HERE You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.

'Extraordinary event': Astronomers witness largest cosmic explosion in space

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