The Hot and Cold Outflows of NGC 3079

TL;DR

This study presents deep neutral hydrogen observations of NGC 3079, revealing complex gas outflows including both hot and cold components, and discovering a large gas stream encircling the galaxy, indicating more intricate galactic feedback processes.

Contribution

It provides new detailed HI data showing the coexistence of hot and cold gas outflows and uncovers a large gas stream, enhancing understanding of galactic outflow mechanisms.

Findings

Detection of a large gas stream encircling NGC 3079

Observation of cold gas being blown out alongside hot gas

Revealing the galaxy's outflows are more complex than previously thought

Abstract

Very deep neutral hydrogen (HI) observations of the edge-on spiral galaxy NGC 3079 with the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT) are presented. The galaxy has been studied extensively in different wavelengths and known for its several unique and complex features. However, the new data still revealed several new features and show that the galaxy is even more complicated and interesting than previously thought. In the new data a large stream of gas, encircling the entire galaxy, was discovered, while the data also show, for the first time, that not only hot gas is blown into space by the starburst/AGN, but also large amounts of cold gas, despite the high energies involved in the outflow.