![Side-by-side observational composites of 2MASX J13003807+5454367 and FIRST J120041.4+314745, with Chandra X-rays in red, Hubble [O III] emission in green, and Hubble stellar continuum in blue.](/_next/image?url=%2Fimages%2Fpress%2Fquasar-winds%2Fhero-quasar-winds-clean.png&w=3840&q=75)
AAS 248 · Featured release
Watching a Black Hole Wind Grow
Chandra imaging spectroscopy and Hubble observations compare highly ionized X-ray-emitting gas with warm ionized gas in two luminous type 2 quasars.
Image: X-ray: NASA/CXC; optical: NASA/ESA/HST; image processing and composition: Anna Trindade Falcão.
The result
Two quasars, two proposed feedback contexts
Both quasars contain extended, photoionized soft X-ray emission. In FIRST J120041, it is spatially associated with [O III] regions having the highest measured velocities and line widths; those are [O III] measurements, and no velocity field was measured for the extended X-ray phase. Dynamical coupling remains interpretive, and the proposed feedback sequence is not an observed temporal progression.
The comparison
Earlier and later feedback states
The color composites separate the host-galaxy starlight, [O III] emission, soft X-rays, and the combined multiwavelength view.
How the images are built
Four channels reveal each feedback state
Separating the starlight, [O III] emission, and soft X-rays shows where the phases overlap and where they remain spatially distinct.
The interpretation
A wind-driven evolutionary sequence
The four-stage framework moves from a compact, obscured configuration to a post-blowout state with extended X-ray and optical emission. The labeled stages are an interpretive model, not a literal time sequence observed in a single galaxy.