Mind-blowing power and speed of black hole jets measured for the first time

For the first time, scientists have measured the instantaneous mind-blowing power of jets blasting from a black hole.

The jet power from this relatively close black hole-star system is equivalent to 10,000 suns, an international research team reported on Thursday. They also tracked the jet speed: roughly 540 million km/h (355 million mph) – half the speed of light.

Located 7,200 light-years away, Cygnus X-1 features not only a black hole – the first one ever identified more than a half-century ago – but a blue supergiant star, its constant companion. A light-year is nearly 9.7 trillion km (6 trillion miles).

The University of Oxford’s Steve Prabu and his team based their findings on 18 years of high-resolution radio imaging obtained by a global telescope network. He conducted the research while still at Australia’s Curtin University, which led the study published in Nature Astronomy.

Prabu and his colleagues were able to measure the swift power of these “dancing jets” as he calls them, as they were pushed in opposite directions by the star’s wind. The group based its calculations on how much the jets were bent by the stellar wind as well as computer modelling.

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‘Supermassive’ black hole at the centre of our galaxy viewed for the first time

‘Supermassive’ black hole at the centre of our galaxy viewed for the first time

Until now, a black hole’s jet power had to be averaged over tens of thousands of years, the researchers said.