Supermassive Black Holes Stop Galaxies From Making New Stars
The bigger the black hole, the faster their host galaxies get “quenched,” according to new research.
The galaxies of the universe grow up kind of like we do. When they’re young, they’re very active, producing new stars out of clouds of dust at a rapid rate. As they age, the churning slows down and eventually stops. No more new stars. The galaxies settle into some relative peace and quiet.
Astronomers have long sought to figure out what exactly leads to this halt in star formation, a phenomenon known as “quenching.” Most
