Black hole jets measured for first time and rival the power of 10,000 suns

For the first time, astronomers have directly measured the immense power of black hole jets, revealing forces rivaling 10,000 suns in a landmark cosmic observation. | Contesto: cronaca

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• Black hole jets measured for first time and rival the power of 10,000 suns

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In a landmark astronomical observation, an international team of scientists has directly measured the immense power of relativistic jets erupting from a stellar-mass black hole for the first time. Using a planet-sized network of radio telescopes, researchers focused on the iconic system Cygnus X-1—one of the first black holes ever identified—and determined its jets blast outward with the energy equivalent of 10,000 Suns while accelerating matter to half the speed of light. The findings, published today, provide unprecedented data on one of the universe's most energetic and enigmatic processes. The breakthrough was made possible by the extreme environment of the Cygnus X-1 system itself. The black hole is locked in a tight orbit with a blue supergiant companion star, HDE 226868, which unleashes a torrential stellar wind. For the first time, astronomers were able to observe these fierce winds physically pushing and bending the black hole's jets. This interaction acted as a natural cosmic probe, allowing researchers to calculate the jets' power by measuring how much force was required to deflect them. "It's like measuring the strength of a firehose by seeing how far the stream bends in a strong crosswind," explained the lead researcher on the project. Prior to this study, the true power of such jets from stellar-mass black holes had been largely theoretical and inferred indirectly. While supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies are known to produce jets visible across the cosmos, their smaller stellar counterparts have proven more difficult to quantify. The team utilized the High Sensitivity Array, a coordinated network including the Very Long Baseline Array and other global radio observatories, to achieve the extraordinary resolution needed to track subtle changes in the jet's structure over time. This effectively created a telescope the size of Earth, capable of discerning details 1,000 times finer than the Hubble Space Telescope. The implications of this measurement are profound for astrophysics. The confirmed power of the jets—rivaling the total luminous output of a small galaxy—demonstrates that even black holes formed from collapsed stars are...

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Categoria: cronaca