Wind Power
Astronomers have long believed cold molecular gas provides the fuel for ongoing
star formation. This phase of the inter-stellar
medium (ISM) is cold and dense, thus tightly bound in galactic disks. Removing such
gas requires vast amounts of energy. While
strong starbursts can drive winds and strip
gas on galaxy scales, this occurs only when
star-formation rates run high.
Figure 2.
Ionized and atomic
gas kinematics derived
from the GMOS IFU
data. In panels a
and b we display the
kinematics of the
ionized gas in the
bound component,
and the outflow,
respectively. Bins where
only one ionized gas
component is required
are also shown in
panel a. Panel c
shows the neutral gas
kinematics derived
from the sodium
absorption. The 1.4
gigahertz radioemission contours
(from observations by
the VLA) are overlaid.
Another way to input large amounts of energy into the ISM is by