Overview
- A paper led by Julie Hlavacek‑Larrondo published July 14 reports nearly eight hours of JWST NIRSpec data that resolve structures down to about 30 light‑years and show cool, multiphase filaments connected to the galaxy’s center.
- Velocity maps reveal a spinning circumnuclear disk roughly 800 light‑years across with gas moving at speeds approaching 600 kilometers per second.
- Observers traced gas flowing along the filaments into that disk, directly supporting the long‑standing feedback loop in which black‑hole jets heat halo gas that later cools and rains back in to feed the black hole.
- The team’s state‑of‑the‑art simulations reproduce the observed flows and indicate magnetic fields can slow rotation and guide cool gas inward to the disk.
- The results are in press at Astrophysical Journal Letters and available on arXiv (2606.06620), and a small discrepancy in media reports over NGC 4696’s distance does not affect the main findings.