Astronomers using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory have identified the source of powerful stellar winds in the galaxy NGC 253, located 11.4 million light-years from Earth. The results of the study are published in The Astrophysical Journal.

The scientists analyzed the results of four days of deep spacecraft observations to study the properties of the wind. It turned out that parameters such as the density and temperature of the gas reach their highest values in regions less than 800 light-years from the center of the galaxy, and then decrease as they move away.

These results contradict an earlier model that winds from so-called starburst galaxies, such as NGC 253, should be spherical. Instead, recent theoretical work predicts that the stronger wind should be formed by a ring of stellar superclusters located near the center of NGC 253. Stellar superclusters contain a large number of young massive stars.

The results confirm the hypothesis that superstellar clusters are the main source of stellar wind in galaxies such as NGC 253. The decrease in wind strength with distance is explained by cooling and slowing down as a result of collision with colder gas.