Wind plays an important role in the Earth’s ecology by transporting dust and debris across the planet. The same is true of the universe, where galactic winds can have a large impact on the environment but on a much larger and more dramatic scale.

The Astrophysical Journal studied the effects of powerful winds launched from the centre of a nearby galaxy, NGC253. The galaxy is located about 11.4 million light years away from our planet and the researchers used data from NASA’S Chandra X-ray Observatory to study the wind originating there.

The wind is made up of gas that have millions of degrees temperatures. Due to the heat of this winds glows in Cheat observations. This winds carries out many important materials, including those that are responsible for life on Earth.

The composite image above includes Chandra Observatory data and shows that these winds blow in two opposite directions from the centre of the galaxy. The Cyan parts of the image show visible light data, and the orange part shows hydrogen emissions. Both these were derived from the Kitt Peak Observatory in Arizona. The researchers take four days of observation upon winds properties by using deep Chandra.