Cygnus X-1 - Definition and Overview

Location of the X-ray source Cygnus X-1, which is widely accepted to be a 10 solar mass black hole orbiting a blue giant star.

Cygnus X-1 (often abbreviated to Cyg X-1) is an X-ray source in the Cygnus constellation, and considered to be one of the most likely black hole candidates. It is a high-mass X-ray binary, with the optical counterpart (HDE 226868) being a variable 8.9 magnitude star (visible with good binoculars in good observing conditions.) at right ascension 19 h 56.5 min and declination of 35 deg 4 min (for 1950 epoch).

Tom Bolton identified Cygnus X-1 as a black hole using the facilities of the David Dunlap Observatory at the University of Toronto.

Cyg X-1 is a binary star that contains a O9-B0 supergiant (with a surface temperature of 31000 kelvins) and a compact object. The mass of the supergiant is approximately 20-30 solar masses. The compact object has a mass of 7-13 solar masses; as the largest possible mass of a neutron star can not exceed three solar masses, it is believed to be a black hole. The X-rays are produced in an accretion disk that is formed by matter flowing from the supergiant into the black hole. Cygnus X-1 is the brightest persistent source of hard X-rays (E > 20 keV) on the sky. The distance to Cygnus X-1 is about 2500 parsecs.

External links

• Identification of Cygnus X-1 as a black hole (http://news.utoronto.ca/bin/bulletin/nov10_97/art4.htm)