A hungry black hole with nice table manners

[Ann]

Click to view full size image

Image credit: Chandra X-ray Observatory / Spitzer Satellite
/ Hubble Space Telescope / GALEX Satellite.

Is there a monster black hole in the binary X-ray system ULX-1 in the Pinwheel Galaxy, M101?

The answer may be no. Ji-Feng Liu (Chinese Academy of Sciences) and colleagues have concluded that ULX-1 in M101 is probably a Wizard of Oz black hole, with a lot more bluster than substance to it. Most likely, ULX-1 is a stellar mass black hole and a very hungry but dainty eater, so that it gobbles down huge helpings of gas from its dying Wolf-Rayet companion, but manages to avoid destroying the dinner party in the first place.

Read more here.

Ann

[Beyond]

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[Ann]

Didn't know they sold that anti-gas thing in another galaxy!

Ann