Astronomers Measure Black Hole Jets with 10,000-Sun Power, Offering New Insights
For the first time, scientists have successfully measured the instantaneous power of jets emitted from a black hole, revealing a force equivalent to 10,000 suns. This discovery was made by an international research team studying the black hole-star system Cygnus X-1, located 7,200 light-years away. The system, which includes a black hole and a blue supergiant star, was the first black hole ever identified over fifty years ago. The research, led by Steve Prabu from the University of Oxford, utilized 18 years of high-resolution radio imaging from a global telescope network. The team observed that the jets, moving at half the speed of light, are influenced by the stellar wind from the supergiant star, which bends them in opposite directions. This study marks a significant advancement in understanding black hole dynamics, as previous measurements of jet power were averaged over thousands of years. 
