Astronomers have directly observed jets blasting from a black hole as it cannibalizes a nearby blue supergiant star, and have now quantified the power of those outbursts. Using data from thea global network of radio telescopes (with SKA noted for future applications), the team measured the jet eruptions and found they radiate with a power comparable to the combined output of 10,000 suns. The work, reported in connection with observations dated 2026-04-16, turns a long-suspected extreme engine into a system with a concrete energy budget.
The source is the well-known X-ray binary Cygnus X-1 (Cyg X-1), located about 7,000 light-years away and among the brightest X-ray emitters in the sky. Cyg X-1 is thought to host a stellar-mass black hole with an estimated mass of around 21 times that of the sun, drawing in matter from a massive blue supergiant companion. The new SKA measurements focus on the jets launched as this accretion proceeds, revealing that the system’s “dancing” outflows carry energy on a scale usually associated with much larger structures.
The black hole and its donor star in Cygnus X-1 are separated by roughly 30 million miles (48 million kilometers), about 0.2 astronomical units, or 20% of the Earth–sun distance. At this range, the blue supergiant’s powerful stellar winds can be efficiently captured by the black hole’s gravity. Material stripped from the star does not fall straight in; because it carries angular momentum, it settles into a flattened, swirling accretion disk that gradually feeds the black hole and powers the observed high-energy emission.
As matter spirals inward, the black hole’s intense gravity heats the accretion disk, producing the strong X-ray output that first made Cygnus X-1 stand out. Some fraction is redirected toward the black hole’s poles and expelled as collimated jets. The SKA radio observations trace these jets as they erupt from the vicinity of the black hole, allowing astronomers to infer their power and to confirm that the system is actively expelling a significant portion of the captured stellar wind back into space.
By tying the radio jet measurements to the estimated jet power of 10,000 solar luminosities, the study provides a quantitative handle on how much energy a single stellar-mass black hole can inject into its surroundings while cannibalizing a companion. The authors note that such powerful outflows are not just local fireworks: the measured jet power could help reveal how similar systems, when numerous, contribute to shaping entire galaxies around them. In that context, Cygnus X-1 becomes a nearby laboratory for feedback processes that operate on much larger cosmic scales, with the SKA data supplying the key constraint on the energy carried by its “dancing” jets.
Original source: https://www.space.com/astronomy/black-holes/dancing-jets-erupting-from-a-cannibalistic-black-hole-have-the-power-of-10-000-suns