BLACK holes blowing huge bubbles may explain the lack of star formation in the cores of galaxy clusters.
Gas at the centre of galaxy clusters should be cooling as it loses energy; this would allow nearby material to compress the gas and create ideal conditions for making stars. But giant “bubbles” of hot, low-density gas may be dragging away the cool gas, say Edward Pope of the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada, and colleagues. These form when a black hole belches out jets of hot plasma, which are then pushed out of the core by surrounding denser gas.…
