The black hole inside NGC 300 X-1 (artist’s impression)

This artist’s impression depicts the newly discovered stellar-mass black hole in the spiral galaxy NGC 300. The black hole has a mass of about twenty times the mass of the Sun and is associated with a Wolf–Rayet star : a star that will become a black hole itself. Thanks to the observations performed with the FORS2 instrument mounted on ESO’s Very Large Telescope, astronomers have confirmed an earlier hunch that the black hole and the Wolf–Rayet star dance around each other in a diabolic waltz, with a period of about 32 hours. The astronomers also found that the black hole is stripping matter away from the star as they orbit each other. How such a tightly bound system has survived the tumultuous phases that preceded the formation of the black hole is still a mystery.

Crédit:

ESO/L. Calçada/M.Kornmesser

À propos de l'image

Identification:eso1004a
Type:Dessin
Date de publication:27 janvier 2010 12:00
Communiqués de presse en rapport:eso1004
Taille:5000 x 3750 px

À propos de l'objet

Nom:NGC 300 X-1
Type:Local Universe : Star : Type : Wolf-Rayet
Local Universe : Star : Evolutionary Stage : Black Hole
Distance:6 million années lumière
Catégorie:Illustrations

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