What are ‘dancing jets’ in Cygnus X-1?

Dancing jets are measured jet wobble

Researchers studying the black hole Cygnus X-1 report “dancing jets”: energy outflows from the black hole whose direction appears to wobble over time.

How they measured it

The work describes mapping how the jets change their apparent position (“dance” or wobble) due to stellar winds coming from the black hole’s companion star, HDE 226868. Stellar winds can buffet or influence the accretion flow that feeds the jets, causing them to vary.

Why it matters

Instead of only estimating the existence and average power of black hole jets, the study focuses on jet motion and structure. Tracking how jets respond to the companion star’s environment helps astronomers connect accretion physics to outflow dynamics.

Related context from the same theme

A separate piece in the story set reports that the measured jets correspond to an immense power output, described as equivalent to about 10,000 suns, and that Earth-spanning radio telescopes can be used to image these systems at high angular resolution.