NASA's Chandra Adds to Black Hole Birth Announcement

Chandra_496_1024

chandra_496 November 17th, 2011

Credit: Optical: DSS; Illustration: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss

On the left, an optical image from the Digitized Sky Survey shows Cygnus X-1, outlined in a red box. Cygnus X-1 is located near large active regions of star formation in the Milky Way, as seen in this image that spans some 700 light years across. An artist's illustration on the right depicts what astronomers think is happening within the Cygnus X-1 system. Cygnus X-1 is a so-called stellar-mass black hole, a class of black holes that comes from the collapse of a massive star. New studies with data from Chandra and several other telescopes have determined the black hole's spin, mass, and distance with unprecedented accuracy.

Provider: Chandra X-ray Observatory

Image Source: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2011/cygx1/

Curator: Chandra X-ray Observatory, Cambridge, MA, USA

Image Use Policy: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/image_use.html

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Image Details

Image Type
Collage
Object Name
Cygnus X-1
Subject - Milky Way
Star > Evolutionary Stage > Black Hole
Star > Grouping > Binary

Distance

Universescale1
8,000 light years

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 19h 59m 35.9s
DEC = 35° 23’ 12.4”
Constellation
Cygnus

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Blue DSS (DSS2B) Optical (B-band) 443.0 nm
Green DSS (DSS2R+DSS2B) Optical (R&B Bands) 551.5 nm
Red DSS (DSS2R) Optical (R-band) 660.0 nm
Spectrum_base
Blue
Green
Red
Chandra_496_1280
×
ID
496
Subject Category
B.3.1.10   B.3.6.1  
Subject Name
Cygnus X-1
Credits
Optical: DSS; Illustration: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss
Release Date
2011-11-17
Lightyears
8,000
Redshift
8,000
Reference Url
http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2011/cygx1/
Type
Collage
Image Quality
Good
Distance Notes
Facility
DSS, DSS, DSS
Instrument
DSS2B, DSS2R+DSS2B, DSS2R
Color Assignment
Blue, Green, Red
Band
Optical, Optical, Optical
Bandpass
B-band, R&B Bands, R-band
Central Wavelength
443, 551.5, 660
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
299.8995427, 35.3867703
Reference Dimension
Reference Pixel
Scale
Rotation
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Position
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
Chandra X-ray Observatory
URL
http://chandra.harvard.edu
Name
Chandra X-ray Observatory Center
Email
cxcpub@cfa.harvard.edu
Telephone
617.496.7941
Address
60 Garden St.
City
Cambridge
State/Province
MA
Postal Code
02138
Country
USA
Rights
http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/image_use.html
Publisher
Chandra X-ray Observatory Center
Publisher ID
chandra
Resource ID
cygx1.tif
Metadata Date
2011-11-17T13:32:28-05:00
Metadata Version
1.2
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

×
Universescalefull
8,000 light years

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