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Astrophysics

How to catch a galactic wind

Nature volume 499, pages 416–417 (2013)Cite this article

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Observations obtained by the Atacama Large Millimeter Array in Chile's Atacama Desert have revealed properties of the cold molecular phase of the wind that is being blown out of a nearby starburst galaxy. See Letter p.450

In this issue, Bolatto et al.1 present ground-breaking interferometric observations of carbon monoxide emission from the nucleus and the central 2-kiloparsec region of a nearby starburst galaxy. The high sensitivity and resolution of these observations allowed the authors to detect faint molecular gas associated with a known superwind and to measure its mass-outflow rate for the first time.

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Figure 1: The structure of the NGC 253 superwind.

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  1. Mark Westmoquette is at the European Southern Observatory, 85748 Garching, Germany.,

    Mark Westmoquette

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  1. Mark Westmoquette
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Correspondence to Mark Westmoquette.

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Westmoquette, M. How to catch a galactic wind. Nature 499, 416–417 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/499416a

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