| Observation data Epoch J2000 Equinox J2000 | |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Scorpius |
| Right ascension | 17h 09m 08.0s [1] |
| Declination | −36° 24′ 24″ [1] |
| Other designations | |
SWIFT J1709.8-3627B, INTEGRAL1 44, CXOU J170907.6-362425 | |
| Database references | |
| SIMBAD | data |
IGR J17091-3624 (also IGR J17091) is a stellar mass black hole 28,000 light-years away. It lies in the constellation Scorpius in the Milky Way galaxy. [2]
IGR J17091 was discovered by ESA's INTEGRAL satellite in April 2003. [3]
IGR J17091 is a stellar mass black hole with a mass between 3 and 10 M☉. It is a binary system in which a star orbits the black hole. [4] Its small size may make it a candidate for the smallest black hole discovered. [5] However, as of 2017 its mass was described as "unknown". [6]
Observations by the Chandra X-ray Observatory in 2011 discovered that it produces the fastest winds ever coming from an accretion disk at 3,218,688 km/h (20 million mph) making it about 3% of the speed of light. This is 10 times faster than the next-highest-measured wind speed. According to Ashley King from the University of Michigan "Contrary to the popular perception of black holes pulling in all of the material that gets close, we estimate up to 95 percent of the matter in the disk around IGR J17091 is expelled by the wind." [7]
IGR J17091 also exhibits peculiar X-ray variability patterns or "heartbeats" which are small, quasi-periodic, outbursts repeated over a 5- to 70-second timescale. [8] Similar variability has only been observed in the black hole GRS 1915+105; however, IGR J17091's outbursts are 20 times fainter. [9]
A stellar black hole is a black hole formed by the gravitational collapse of a star. They have masses ranging from about 5 to several tens of solar masses. They are the remnants of supernova explosions, which may be observed as a type of gamma ray burst. These black holes are also referred to as collapsars.
Sagittarius A*, abbreviated as Sgr A*, is the supermassive black hole at the Galactic Center of the Milky Way. Viewed from Earth, it is located near the border of the constellations Sagittarius and Scorpius, about 5.6° south of the ecliptic, visually close to the Butterfly Cluster (M6) and Lambda Scorpii.
An astrophysical jet is an astronomical phenomenon where outflows of ionised matter are emitted as extended beams along the axis of rotation. When this greatly accelerated matter in the beam approaches the speed of light, astrophysical jets become relativistic jets as they show effects from special relativity.
The Trapezium or Orion Trapezium Cluster, also known by its Bayer designation of Theta1 Orionis, is a tight open cluster of stars in the heart of the Orion Nebula, in the constellation of Orion. It was discovered by Galileo Galilei. On 4 February 1617 he sketched three of the stars, but missed the surrounding nebulosity. A fourth component (B) was identified by several observers in 1673, and several more components were discovered later like E, for a total of eight by 1888. Subsequently, several of the stars were determined to be binaries. Telescopes of amateur astronomers from about 5-inch (130 mm) aperture can resolve six stars under good seeing conditions.
MS 0735.6+7421 is a galaxy cluster located in the constellation Camelopardalis, approximately 2.6 billion light-years away. It is notable as the location of one of the largest central galactic black holes in the known universe, which has also apparently produced one of the most powerful active galactic nucleus eruptions discovered.
GRS 1915+105 or V1487 Aquilae is an X-ray binary star system containing a main sequence star and a black hole. Transfer of material from the star to the black hole generates a relativistic jet, making this a microquasar system. The jet exhibits apparent superluminal motion.
GRO J0422+32 is an X-ray nova and black hole candidate that was discovered by the BATSE instrument on the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory satellite on 5 August 1992. During outburst, it was observed to be stronger than the Crab Nebula gamma-ray source out to photon energies of about 500 keV.
Hyper-Luminous X-ray source 1, commonly known as HLX-1, is an intermediate-mass black hole candidate located in the lenticular galaxy ESO 243-49 about 290 million light-years from Earth. The mass of its central black hole is estimated to be approximately 20,000 solar masses. The source was discovered at the Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie, Toulouse, France and gained interest from the scientific community because of strong evidence supporting it as an intermediate-mass black hole. HLX-1 is possibly the remnant of a dwarf galaxy that may have been in a galactic collision with ESO 243-49.
WD J0651+2844 is a white dwarf binary star system composed of two white dwarfs. They are approximately 120,000 km apart and complete an orbit around their barycenter in less than 13 minutes. This produces an eclipse every 6 minutes. This makes it possible to gather enough data to produce extremely accurate predictions of each future eclipse. The eclipse times deviate from the time predicted in a way consistent with gravitational waves.
M60-UCD1 is an ultracompact dwarf galaxy. It is 49 million light years from Earth, close to Messier 60 in the Virgo Cluster. Half of its stellar mass is in the central sphere 160 light years in diameter.
NGC 1407 is an elliptical galaxy in Eridanus. It is at a distance of 76 million light-years from Earth. It is the brightest galaxy in the NGC 1407 Group, part of the Eridanus Group, with NGC 1407 being its brightest member. NGC 1400, the second-brightest of the group lies 11.8 arcmin away.
A hypernova is a very energetic supernova which is believed to result from an extreme core collapse scenario. In this case, a massive star collapses to form a rotating black hole emitting twin astrophysical jets and surrounded by an accretion disk. It is a type of stellar explosion that ejects material with an unusually high kinetic energy, an order of magnitude higher than most supernovae, with a luminosity at least 10 times greater. Hypernovae release such intense gamma rays that they often appear similar to a type Ic supernova, but with unusually broad spectral lines indicating an extremely high expansion velocity. Hypernovae are one of the mechanisms for producing long gamma ray bursts (GRBs), which range from 2 seconds to over a minute in duration. They have also been referred to as superluminous supernovae, though that classification also includes other types of extremely luminous stellar explosions that have different origins.
NGC 2681 is a lenticular galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major. The galaxy lies 50 million light years away from Earth, which means, given its apparent dimensions, that NGC 2681 is approximately 55,000 light years across. NGC 2681 has an active galactic nucleus and it is a type 3 Seyfert galaxy. Its nucleus is also a low-ionization nuclear emission-line region.
Pseudo-panspermia is a well-supported hypothesis for a stage in the origin of life. The theory first asserts that many of the small organic molecules used for life originated in space. It continues that these organic molecules were distributed to planetary surfaces, where life then emerged on Earth and perhaps on other planets. Pseudo-panspermia differs from the fringe theory of panspermia, which asserts that life arrived on Earth from distant planets.
NGC 4561 is a barred spiral galaxy in the constellation Coma Berenices. It was discovered by German-British astronomer William Herschel on April 13, 1784. This galaxy is located at a distance of 82 ± 14 million light-years (25.2 ± 4.3 Mpc) from the Milky Way, and is a member of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies. It is 13th magnitude with an angular size of 1.5′.
2MASS J10475385+2124234 is a brown dwarf of spectral class T6.5, in the constellation Leo about 34 light-years from Earth, hence in galactic topographical and interstellar medium study terms being in the Local Bubble and very nearby in the Orion Arm. The object first attracted attention by becoming the first brown dwarf of spectral class T from which radio waves were detected. This discovery then permitted its wind speeds to be computed.
A blanet is a member of a hypothetical class of exoplanets that directly orbit black holes.
EX Lupi is a young, single T-Tauri star in the southern constellation of Lupus. An irregular variable, it is the prototype of young, low-mass eruptive stars named EXors, with EX Lupi being this object's variable star designation. At its minimal activity level, EX Lupi resembles a classical T-Tauri star of the M0 dwarf type. The low latitude of this star, at a declination of −40°, makes it difficult for northern observers to view. Based on parallax measurements, it is located at a distance of about 505 light years from the Sun. The star lies next to a gap in the Lupus cloud complex, a star forming region.
