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Real-Time Black Hole Flare Triggers Ultrafast Wind at 20% Light Speed

The sequence indicates a magnetically driven ejection mechanism.

Overview

  • Astronomers report the first clear, time-resolved link between a rapid X-ray flare and an ultrafast outflow in NGC 3783, published December 9 in Astronomy & Astrophysics.
  • The outflow reached about 60,000 km per second (roughly 19–20% of light speed) and appeared within hours to a day after the flare.
  • The target is a ~30 million–solar-mass black hole in the barred spiral galaxy NGC 3783, located about 130 million light-years from Earth.
  • XRISM led a continuous ~10-day campaign with simultaneous XMM-Newton observations, supported by NuSTAR, Hubble, Chandra, Swift, and NICER.
  • Timing and spectral signatures point to magnetic reconnection—akin to solar coronal mass ejections—offering fresh constraints on how AGN winds drive galaxy-scale feedback.