http://www.astronomy.com/news/2013/12/extreme-black-hole-is-more-luminous-than-astronomers-thought-possible
December 2, 2013 - Astronomy.com
For decades, astronomers have puzzled over an odd source of X-ray light
in an arm of the galaxy M101, just off the handle of the Big Dipper. The
object, like other so-called ultraluminous X-ray sources, is a system
made of a star and a black hole that orbit each other. But its
brightness and estimated mass haven’t seemed to add up.
...
To measure the mass of this system, known as ULX-1, Liu and colleagues
first looked at the system through the Gemini telescope. Then they
conducted a spectroscopic analysis of the images, which involved
analyzing the color of the light to figure out which elements the star
in the system contained. They found that there wasn’t much hydrogen in
the star. That helped them determine it’s a type known as a Wolf-Rayet.
Such stars are rare, large, and hot. And they’re shrinking fast due to
their strong stellar winds.
...
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
Stellar-Mass Black Hole Caught Consuming Matter In A Surprisingly Calm Manner
http://www.redorbit.com/news/space/1113015781/black-hole-gemini-unexpected-discovery-in-messier-101-112913/
November 27, 2013 - redOrbit.com
Our understanding of how some black holes
consume matter might be changed by new observations of a black hole
powering an energetic X-ray source in a galaxy some 22 million light
years away. The findings, published in a recent issue of Nature,
indicate that this particular black hole, thought to be the engine
behind the X-ray source’s high-energy light output, is unexpectedly
lightweight. Additionally, in spite of the generous amount of dust and
gas being fed to it by a massive stellar companion, it swallows this
material in a surprisingly orderly fashion.
...
They were surprised, therefore, when the Gemini Observatory data revealed that M101 ULX-1′s black hole is on the small side. Astrophysicists are unable to explain why this is so.
...
November 27, 2013 - redOrbit.com
Our understanding of how some black holes
consume matter might be changed by new observations of a black hole
powering an energetic X-ray source in a galaxy some 22 million light
years away. The findings, published in a recent issue of Nature,
indicate that this particular black hole, thought to be the engine
behind the X-ray source’s high-energy light output, is unexpectedly
lightweight. Additionally, in spite of the generous amount of dust and
gas being fed to it by a massive stellar companion, it swallows this
material in a surprisingly orderly fashion....
They were surprised, therefore, when the Gemini Observatory data revealed that M101 ULX-1′s black hole is on the small side. Astrophysicists are unable to explain why this is so.
...
Weird Black Hole's Incredible Brightness Perplexes Scientists
http://www.space.com/23755-black-hole-brightness-mystery.html
November 27, 2013 - Space.com
A black-hole system in a neighboring galaxy is twice as bright as astronomers had thought possible, a new study reports.
The incredible luminosity of the system in question, which resides about 22 million light-years from Earth in the Pinwheel Galaxy, may force a rethink of the theories that explain how some black holes radiate energy, researchers said.
...
The research team, led by Jifeng Liu of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, studied ULX-1 using the Gemini Observatory in Hawaii and two NASA spacecraft, the Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory.
...
November 27, 2013 - Space.com
A black-hole system in a neighboring galaxy is twice as bright as astronomers had thought possible, a new study reports.
The incredible luminosity of the system in question, which resides about 22 million light-years from Earth in the Pinwheel Galaxy, may force a rethink of the theories that explain how some black holes radiate energy, researchers said.
...
The research team, led by Jifeng Liu of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, studied ULX-1 using the Gemini Observatory in Hawaii and two NASA spacecraft, the Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory.
...
For a black hole, this one is incredibly bright
http://www.nbcnews.com/science/black-hole-one-incredibly-bright-2D11665030
November 27, 2013 - NBC News
A black-hole system in a neighboring galaxy is twice as bright as astronomers had thought possible, a new study reports.
...
The research team, led by Jifeng Liu of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, studied ULX-1 using the Gemini Observatory in Hawaii and two NASA spacecraft, the Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory.
...
November 27, 2013 - NBC News
A black-hole system in a neighboring galaxy is twice as bright as astronomers had thought possible, a new study reports.
...
The research team, led by Jifeng Liu of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, studied ULX-1 using the Gemini Observatory in Hawaii and two NASA spacecraft, the Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory.
...
Monday, December 2, 2013
Black Hole’s Behavior Defies the Rules of Astrophysics
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/2013/11/27/black-holes-behavior-defies-the-rules-of-astrophysics/
November 27, 2013 - Discover
Imagine camping in the woods, when you hear what sounds like a chainsaw, but then see that the ruckus is coming from a tiny bird. The experience changes the way you think about little birds, right? And that’s exactly what’s happened to astronomers, who detected what sounded like a black hole behemoth and found, instead, a black hole baby.
...
The researchers who published the astronomy-upending paper used the Gemini telescope to study the light coming from this system, named M101 ULX-1. It’s 20 million light-years away in the spiral galaxy M101 (often called the Pinwheel galaxy). Made up of the black hole and a companion star, the system turned out to be relatively free of hydrogen, suggesting the star was of a particular variety known as a Wolf-Rayet. Knowing what kind of star the companion was, the researchers could determine from its light that it was about 19 times as massive as the sun (typical for these rare stars).
...
November 27, 2013 - Discover
Imagine camping in the woods, when you hear what sounds like a chainsaw, but then see that the ruckus is coming from a tiny bird. The experience changes the way you think about little birds, right? And that’s exactly what’s happened to astronomers, who detected what sounded like a black hole behemoth and found, instead, a black hole baby.
...
The researchers who published the astronomy-upending paper used the Gemini telescope to study the light coming from this system, named M101 ULX-1. It’s 20 million light-years away in the spiral galaxy M101 (often called the Pinwheel galaxy). Made up of the black hole and a companion star, the system turned out to be relatively free of hydrogen, suggesting the star was of a particular variety known as a Wolf-Rayet. Knowing what kind of star the companion was, the researchers could determine from its light that it was about 19 times as massive as the sun (typical for these rare stars).
...