NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory caught a black hole emitting jets of hot material in opposite directions. MAXI J1820+070 system, situated at a distance of 10,000 light-years from the earth, constitutes a black hole and a star. The black hole having a mass 8 times that of our sun shreds away the gases of its companion which is having a mass just half as our sun. While some of the gases get consumed by the black hole, some portion of them is ejected by it along its magnetic field lines instead of making it past the event horizon. The observation made from November 2018 till June 2019 shows about 400 million billion pounds of material being blown away from the black hole.
When observed from Earth, it appears that the northern jet is moving at a speed of 60% the speed of light and the southern one moving at 160% the speed of light. But didn’t Einstein tell us that speed of light is the maximum universal limit? We call this Superluminal motion and this is common for an object moving at near the speed of light. As it is just a matter of frame of reference, the southern jet appears to be moving faster than the northern one. From the perspective of the black hole, actual velocity is around 80% the speed of light for both jets. These jets while moving through space are decelerating due to the interaction with other materials in its way which produces shockwaves thus slowing it down.
Hearing about Superluminal motion for the first time? THIS would give you some idea about it.
References : NASA, https://chandra.harvard.edu
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