Astronomers from WA’s Curtin University have witnessed a black hole spewing jets of plasma into space as it pulled apart a nearby star.
Professor James Miller-Jones noted the activity was unusual, as typically gas pulled from a nearby star is shot into space up and down the spinning axis of the black hole.
In the case of black hole V404-Cygni, the jets of plasma were being shot out in all directions. The astronomers believe the movement was triggered by a misalignment of the black hole and the disc of material around it, causing the disc to wobble like a spinning top and pull the plasma jets around with it.