Researchers’ recent observations of a stellar-mass black hole called Cygnus X-1 reveal new details about the configuration of extremely hot matter in the region immediately surrounding the black hole. Matter is heated to millions of degrees as it is pulled toward a black hole. This hot matter glo
and the Italian Space Agency . Cygnus X-1 is one of the brightest X-ray sources in our galaxy, consisting of a 21 solar mass black hole in orbit with a 41 solar mass companion star.
Combining the IXPE data with concurrent observations from NASA’s NICER and NuSTAR X-ray observatories in May and June 2022 allowed the authors to constrain the geometry — i.e., shape and location — of the plasma. The scientists noted that a better understanding of the geometry of the plasma around a black hole can reveal much about the inner workings of black holes and how they accrete mass.
“This may be a signature of a misalignment of the equatorial plane of the black hole and the orbital plane of the binary,” or the paired duo of the black hole and its companion star, clarified co-author Alexandra Veledina from the University of Turku. “The system may have acquired that misalignment when the black hole progenitor star exploded.”
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