This star-forming galaxy is blowing out powerful winds topping 2 million mph
By Robert Lea
Published on March 31, 2026.
NASA's X-ray spacecraft XRISM has found that winds from galaxy M82, known as Messier 82 (M82), are accelerating at an incredible 2 million miles per hour (3.21 million kilometers per hour) and up to 40,000 light-years from its core. The findings were made using data from NASA's Chandra X-rays Observatory and Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes. M82 is located around 12 million light years away from Earth and classified as a "supersuper," as it is forming 10 times faster than the current galaxy. The XRIS (pronounced "crism") spacecraft's Resolve instrument was used to measure the speed of these galactic winds. The team found that the center of M82 expels the equivalent of seven suns each year, which poses a mystery as to how these extra solar masses could be driven outward. Researchers suggest that the same phenomenon that blows these winds also launches cosmic rays, which may be the main source of pressure pushing the outflows.
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