An international research team has measured the instantaneous power and speed of jets emitted from a black hole for the first time. The measurements were conducted on the Cygnus X-1 system, a binary star system located 7,200 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus. The findings were published in the journal Nature Astronomy.
Key Measurements
- The jets' instantaneous power was calculated to be equivalent to the energy output of 10,000 suns.
- The jets' speed was measured at approximately 355 million miles per hour (540 million kilometers per hour), which is about half the speed of light.
"The jets' instantaneous power was equivalent to the energy output of 10,000 suns."
Research Methodology
The study was led by Steve Prabu. Prabu conducted the research while at Curtin University in Australia and is currently affiliated with the University of Oxford.
The team's calculations were based on 18 years of high-resolution radio imaging data collected by a global network of telescopes. Researchers measured the jets as they were pushed and bent in opposite directions by the stellar wind from the companion star. These observations were combined with computer modeling to determine the jets' power and speed.
According to the researchers, prior to this study, the power of a black hole's jets could only be calculated by averaging over tens of thousands of years.
The Cygnus X-1 System
Cygnus X-1 is a binary system discovered in the 1960s. It was the first black hole ever identified. The system consists of:
- A black hole with a mass approximately 21 times that of the Sun.
- A blue supergiant companion star with a mass approximately 40 times that of the Sun.
The two objects orbit each other every 5.6 days. The black hole continuously pulls gases from its companion star, a process that has been occurring for approximately 20,000 years. The companion star's stellar wind loses mass at a rate about 100 million times greater than the Sun's solar wind.
Key Findings
According to Prabu, a key finding is that approximately 10% of the total energy released as matter falls toward the black hole is carried away by the jets. The jets from Cygnus X-1 have inflated a bubble of hot gas extending about 16 light-years into the surrounding interstellar space.
"Approximately 10% of the total energy released as matter falls toward the black hole is carried away by the jets."
Scientific Significance and Future Research
The researchers stated that studying these jets can help scientists understand how black holes influence the formation of galaxies and other cosmic structures through large-scale shocks and turbulence.
The method used to measure the jets' interaction with the stellar wind provides a new way to calculate the energy output of black holes, allowing researchers to compare accretion rates with jet energy output. This information can be used to refine computer simulations of the universe.
Prabu plans to apply similar measurement techniques to other black hole systems. He stated: "It would be exciting to measure jet power in many more systems."