In a paper published in the journal, astronomers report catching the V404 Cygni black hole while it was shimmering and emitting red flashes, some of which were shorter than a timespan of only 1/40th of a second.

In June 2015, V404 Cygni abruptly started emitting a huge amount of power, becoming one of the brightest objects in the Milky Way Galaxy as seen in X-rays. Telescopes worldwide, including the William Herschel and Isaac Newton Telescopes, followed its ascent in brightness for about two weeks, leading up to June 26, after which the black hole gradually faded away.

Imagine an object 9 times larger in mass than the Sun, which repeatedly flares to up to 1000 times brighter than our Sun for a fraction of a second. This is the power that was seen to be emitted. As if this werent extreme enough, on June 26, the black hole appeared to be agitated and flickering red at high speed.

The astronomers speculate that while the black hole was being force-fed with material that it had stripped off a neighbouring star, it reacted furiously by blasting away some of the material in the form of a fast-moving jet. Lead author of the study Dr Poshak Gandhi, Associate Professor and STFC Ernest Rutherford Fellow in the University of Southamptons Astronomy Group, said: "The duration of these flashing episodes could be related to the switching on and off of a steady jet, seen for the first time in detail.

Gandhi also comments: The very high speed tells us that the region where this red light is being emitted must be very compact. Piecing together clues about the colour, speed, and the power of these flashes, we conclude that this light is being emitted from the base of the black hole jet. The origin of these jets is still unknown, although strong magnetic fields are suspected to play a role."