Title: An AGN-blown Nuclear Bubble Triggers Star Formation in a Nearby Face-on Analogue to 
Our Own Milky Way

Abstract:
The Milky Way Galactic Center has long been thought to host an outflow.  Recent discoveries 
allow us to trace the bubble-like extent of the outflow to greater heights than ever before.  
However, many questions remain as to the conditions in the Galactic Center and how they 
power, shape, and distribute the outflowing material into the observed structure.  In order to 
understand these nuclear bubbles we need to look to external galaxies; our vantage point within 
the Galactic disk will never allow an unambiguous view of this region.  Here we show evidence 
that the nucleus of a nearby face-on spiral galaxy has a magnetically-draped bubble similar to 
those seen emerging from the nucleus of the Milky Way.  The power source is unambiguously 
the central black hole, although it is not currently active, and the bubble formed within the last 
few tens of million years. The bubble is cinched by a ring of cold neutral and molecular gas.  
Star formation, as evidenced by high mass x-ray binaries, has been triggered in this ring of cold 
gas by the black hole activity and in a kiloparsec-sized region surrounding the base of the 
bubble.  We consider the nucleus of this galaxy to be a direct analogue to that of our own 
Galactic Center.