'Raging galactic winds of gas'?

UPI reports:

A European space telescope detected "winds" of cosmic gas streaming from galaxies that may have the power to bring star formation to a halt, astronomers say.

The winds discovered by the European Space Agency's Herschel infrared space observatory blow at speeds of more than 600 miles a second, 10,000 faster than winds in a terrestrial hurricane, an ESA release said Monday.

These "winds," or molecular gas outflows, are an important discovery because stars form from molecular gas, and these outflows are robbing some galaxies of the raw material they need to make new stars, researchers said.

If the outflows are powerful enough, they could even halt star formation altogether.

Galaxies with the most vigorous outflows are losing mass at a rate of 1,200 times the mass of our sun every year, the astronomers said.

There's more at the link.

I can only surmise that the scientists in question are too young to remember Donovan's scientific - or should that be medical? - explanation of these 'raging galactic winds of gas'!

(LANGUAGE ALERT: There are a few naughty words here and there.)

Galactic 'winds', indeed!



Peter