M82 Galaxy from the Mount Lemmon SkyCenter Schulman Telescope courtesy Adam Block

A galactic superwind, or just galactic wind, is a high velocity

stellar wind A stellar wind is a flow of gas ejected from the upper atmosphere of a star. It is distinguished from the bipolar outflows characteristic of young stars by being less collimated, although stellar winds are not generally spherically symmetric. D ...

emanating from either newly formed massive stars,

spiral density wave Density wave theory or the Lin–Shu density wave theory is a theory proposed by Chia-Chiao Lin, C.C. Lin and Frank Shu in the mid-1960s to explain the spiral arm structure of spiral galaxy, spiral galaxies. The Lin–Shu theory introduces the ide ...

s, or as the result of the effects of

supermassive black hole A supermassive black hole (SMBH or sometimes SBH) is the largest type of black hole, with its mass being on the order of hundreds of thousands, or millions to billions of times the mass of the Sun (). Black holes are a class of astronomical obj ...

s. They are normally observed in

starburst galaxies A starburst galaxy is one undergoing an exceptionally high rate of star formation, as compared to the long-term average rate of star formation in the galaxy or the star formation rate observed in most other galaxies. For example, the star formatio ...

Description

Galactic winds are strong stellar winds made up of charged particles,

ejecta Ejecta (from the Latin: "things thrown out", singular ejectum) are particles ejected from an area. In volcanology, in particular, the term refers to particles including pyroclastic materials (tephra) that came out of a volcanic explosion and magma ...

, and varying amounts of hot and cool gas, interacting with enough force that the ejecta's

kinetic energy In physics, the kinetic energy of an object is the energy that it possesses due to its motion. It is defined as the work needed to accelerate a body of a given mass from rest to its stated velocity. Having gained this energy during its accele ...

is converted to

thermal energy The term "thermal energy" is used loosely in various contexts in physics and engineering. It can refer to several different well-defined physical concepts. These include the internal energy or enthalpy of a body of matter and radiation; heat, d ...

. The resulting effect is a massive gust of rapidly expanding super-heated gases that can span the length of a galaxy. In galaxies with active

galactic nuclei An active galactic nucleus (AGN) is a compact region at the center of a galaxy that has a much-higher-than-normal luminosity over at least some portion of the electromagnetic spectrum with characteristics indicating that the luminosity is not pr ...

, galactic winds can also be driven by the effects of super-massive black holes. Galactic winds are considered an important function in the evolution of a galaxy.{{cite book, last1=Heckman, first1=Timothy M., last2=Thompson, first2=Todd A., title=Handbook of Supernovae, date=2017, publisher=Springer, Cham, isbn=9783319218458, pages=2431–2454, language=en, arxiv=1701.09062v1, chapter=Galactic Winds and the Role Played by Massive Stars, doi=10.1007/978-3-319-21846-5_23, s2cid=125856372 The winds cause an outflow of gas and other materiel into the

halo Halo, halos or haloes usually refer to: * Halo (optical phenomenon) * Halo (religious iconography), a ring of light around the image of a head HALO, halo, halos or haloes may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Video games * ''Halo'' (franch ...

of a galaxy, while also facilitating the spread of

metals A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...

around a galaxy. Galactic winds are also capable of blowing material out of a galaxy entirely and into the

intergalactic medium Intergalactic may refer to: * "Intergalactic" (song), a song by the Beastie Boys * ''Intergalactic'' (TV series), a 2021 UK science fiction TV series * Intergalactic space * Intergalactic travel, travel between galaxies in science fiction and sp ...

Formation

Superwinds are theorized to form in compact

in which star growth is much higher than in other types of galaxies. This accelerated star growth results in more prevalent stellar winds being present in starburst galaxies. Superwinds form when ejecta released either by supernovae or stellar winds collide with such force that the

shock Shock may refer to: Common uses Collective noun *Shock, a historic commercial term for a group of 60, see English numerals#Special names * Stook, or shock of grain, stacked sheaves Healthcare * Shock (circulatory), circulatory medical emerge ...

from the impact converts the kinetic energy of the ejecta into thermal energy. The violent conversion from kinetic to thermal energy prevents a significant amount of energy from being radiated away. This in turn creates an incredibly hot bubble of gas that is under much greater pressure than it surroundings are. Eventually the gas bubble will expand to encompass other particles of ejected gases, further increasing the force and size of its expansion. This "snowplow" effect results in a gust of

and gas that can span the width of a galaxy. It has been theorized that superwinds can potentially be traveling at a velocity of several thousand kilometers per second by the time they enter the

References

Stellar evolution Solar phenomena Stellar phenomena