Black Holes: The Silent Killers of Galaxies, Stopping Star Birth for Billions of Years

• Scientists uncover how supermassive black holes in 'Red Geyser' galaxies prevent star formation.
• Black holes slowly consume cold gas, which acts as fuel, generating energy that heats the surrounding gas.
• This heating prevents cold gas from condensing into stars, rendering galaxies 'quiescent' for billions of years.
• The cold gas infall is surprisingly slow (47 km/s), only 10% of free-fall speed, indicating an organized process.
• A strong link was found between cold gas inflow and radio-active black holes, with higher gas flow in radio-emitting galaxies.

Why It Matters: Supermassive black holes silently consume cold gas, heating galaxies and halting star formation for eons.