First black hole ever discovered emitting dancing jets as powerful as 10,000 suns

Hole-y guacamole.Scientists have quantified the energy produced by the first black hole ever discovered, revealing that it spews “dancing” jets that shine as bright as thousands of suns and travel 335 million mph — half the speed of light, per an illuminating study in Nature Astronomy.“These jets are thought to be among the most energetic phenomena in the cosmos,” wrote the study’s head author Steve Prabu, a radio astronomer at the University of Oxford, in a piece for The Conversation.First spotted 60 years ago, when scientists were unsure whether black holes existed, the interstellar void Cygnus X-1 is situated approximately 7,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus, Livescience reported.The black hole’s mass clocks in at approximately 21 times larger than the sun and it’s locked in a binary orbit with a companion star called HDE 226868 that’s nearly twice as big.The pair twirl about each other every 5.6 days.Like most black holes, Cygnus X-1 emits dual jets comprised of plasma generated by its accretion disc — a spinning vortex of gas, dust and other matter that glows intensely while being rent asunder.These streams get spouted outward by the black hole’s magnetic field, forming one of the most powerful phenomenons in the universe.

While previously unable to gauge their energy output, the researchers have managed to measure the jet-streams of Cygnus X-1 thanks to its proximity to HDE 226868.The black hole’s partner star buffets the hets with stellar winds made up of charged particles, causing them to bend or wobble — a phenomenon Pruba has termed “dancing.”Due to beams’ constant movement, the sashaying streams have been difficult to track– until now.

By combining images captured by radio telescopes across the world, the team was able to paint a more accurate picture.They found that the jets travel the aforementioned half-light-speed velocity and generate power that glows as bright as 10,000 suns.By quantifying ...