Astronomers have recently caught a startling glimpse at two hot gas jets bursting from a stellar-mass black hole at 80 percent the speed of light, creating a hypnotic cosmic flare that further fuels our fascination by these massive beings.

The black hole in question is located about 10,000 light years away in the Milky Way and has a lone companion star that measures about half the mass of the Sun.

From our perspective on Earth, it appears as though the northern jet is moving at 60 percent the speed of light, while the southern one is traveling at 160 percent of light speed.

The reason why the southern jet seems to be traveling faster than the speed of light is the result of an optical illusion given our Earthly perspective.