CXC: Clandestine Black Hole May Represent New Population

[bystander]

VLA J2130+12: Clandestine Black Hole May Represent New Population
NASA | MSFC | SAO | Chandra X-ray Observatory | 2016 Jun 27

[c][imghover=http://chandra.si.edu/photo/2016/vla/vla_525.jpg]http://chandra.si.edu/photo/2016/vla/vl ... pt_rol.jpg[/imghover]X-ray: NASA/CXC/Univ. of Alberta/B.Tetarenko et al; Optical: NASA/STScI;
Radio: NSF/AUI/NRAO/Curtin Univ./J. Miller-Jones[/c][hr][/hr]

Astronomers have identified the true nature of an unusual source in the Milky Way galaxy. As described in our latest press release, this discovery implies that there could be a much larger number of black holes in the Galaxy that have previously been unaccounted for.

The result was made by combining data from many different telescopes that detect various forms of light, each providing key pieces of information. These telescopes included NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, the Hubble Space Telescope, NSF's Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA), Green Bank Telescope, Arecibo Observatory, and the European Very Long Baseline Interferometry Network.

The collaborative nature of this study is depicted in this multi-panel graphic. The large panel shows a composite Chandra and optical image of the globular cluster M15 located in our galaxy, where the X-ray data are purple and the optical data are red, green and blue. The source being studied here is bright in radio waves, as shown in the close-up VLA image, but the Chandra data reveal it can only be giving off a very small amount of X-rays.

This new study indicates this source, called VLA J213002.08+120904 (VLA J2130+12 for short), contains a black hole a few times the mass of our Sun that is very slowly pulling in material from a companion star. At this paltry feeding rate, VLA J2130+12 was not previously flagged as a black hole since it lacks some of the telltale signs that black holes in binary systems typically display. ...

The first low-mass black hole X-ray binary identified in quiescence outside of a globular cluster - B.E. Tetarenko et al

• Astrophysical Journal 825(1):10 (01 July 2016) DOI: 10.3847/0004-637X/825/1/10
  arXiv.org > astro-ph > arXiv:1605.00270 > 01 May 2016