New observations of the very first great void ever spotted have actually led astronomers to question what they learn about the Universe’s most mystical things.
Published today (February 18, 2021) in the journal Science, the research study reveals the system called Cygnus X-1 consists of the most huge stellar-mass great void ever spotted without using gravitational waves.
Cygnus X-1 is among the closest great voids to Earth. It was found in 1964 when a set of Geiger counters were continued board a sub-orbital rocket introduced from New Mexico.
An animation revealing the Cygnus X-1 system, including a great void in orbit with a huge star. Recent observations by radio telescopes have actually discovered the system is 20 percent even more away than formerly believed, suggesting the great void is 21 times the mass of the Sun, making it the most huge stellar-mass great void ever spotted without using gravitational waves. Credit: International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research
The things was the focus of a popular clinical wager in between physicists Stephen Hawking and Kip Thorne, with Hawking wagering in 1974 that it was not a great void. Hawking yielded the bet in 1990.
In this newest work, a global group of astronomers utilized the Very Long Baseline Array—a continent-sized radio telescope comprised of 10 meals spread out throughout the United States—together with a smart strategy to determine ranges in area.
An artist’s impression of the Cygnus X-1 system. This system consists of the most huge stellar-mass great void ever spotted without using gravitational waves, weighing in at 21 times the mass of the Sun. Credit: International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research
“If we can view the same object from different locations, we can calculate its distance away from us by measuring how far the object appears to move relative to the background,” stated lead scientist, Professor James Miller-Jones from Curtin University and the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR).
“If you hold your finger out in front of your eyes and view it with one eye at a time, you’ll notice your finger appears to jump from one spot to another. It’s exactly the same principle.”
Astronomers observed the Cygnus X-1 system from various angles utilizing the orbit of the Earth around the Sun to determine the viewed motion of the system versus the background stars. This enabled them to improve the range to the system and for that reason the mass of the great void. Credit: International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research
“Over six days we observed a full orbit of the black hole and used observations taken of the same system with the same telescope array in 2011,” Professor Miller-Jones stated. “This method and our new measurements show the system is further away than previously thought, with a black hole that’s significantly more massive.”
Co-author Professor Ilya Mandel from Monash University and the ARC Centre of Excellence in Gravitational Wave Discovery (OzGrav) stated the great void is so huge it’s in fact difficult how astronomers believed they formed.
“Stars lose mass to their surrounding environment through stellar winds that blow away from their surface. But to make a black hole this heavy, we need to dial down the amount of mass that bright stars lose during their lifetimes” he stated.
An artist’s impression of the Cygnus X-1 system. A stellar-mass great void orbits with a buddy star situated 7,200 light years from Earth. Credit: International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research
“The black hole in the Cygnus X-1 system began life as a star approximately 60 times the mass of the Sun and collapsed tens of thousands of years ago,” he stated. “Incredibly, it’s orbiting its buddy star—a supergiant—every 5 and a half days at simply one-fifth of the range in between the Earth and the Sun.
“These new observations tell us the black hole is more than 20 times the mass of our Sun—a 50 per cent increase on previous estimates.”
Xueshan Zhao is a co-author on the paper and a PhD prospect studying at the National Astronomical Observatories—part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC) in Beijing.
Recent observations reveal the great void in the Cygnus X-1 system is 21 times the mass of the Sun—a 50 percent boost on previous price quotes. To type such an enormous great void, astronomers needed to modify their price quotes of just how much mass stars lose by means of excellent winds. Credit: International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research
“Using the updated measurements for the black hole’s mass and its distance away from Earth, I was able to confirm that Cygnus X-1 is spinning incredibly quickly—very close to the speed of light and faster than any other black hole found to date,” she stated.
“I’m at the beginning of my research career, so being a part of an international team and helping to refine the properties of the first black hole ever discovered has been a great opportunity.”
Next year, the world’s most significant radio telescope–the Square Kilometre Array (SKA)–will start building and construction in Australia and South Africa.
“Studying black holes is like shining a light on the Universe’s best kept secret–it’s a challenging but exciting area of research,” Professor Miller-Jones stated.
“As the next generation of telescopes comes online, their enhanced level of sensitivity exposes the Universe in significantly more information, leveraging years of effort invested by researchers and research study groups around the globe to much better comprehend the universes and the unique and severe things that exist.
“It’s a great time to be an astronomer.”
References:
“Cygnus X-1 contains a 21-solar mass black hole – implications for massive star winds” 18 February 2021, Science.
DOI: 10.1126/science.abb3363
“Reestimating the Spin Parameter of the Black Hole in Cygnus X-1” 18 February 2021, The Astrophysical Journal.
“Wind mass-loss rates of stripped stars inferred from Cygnus X-1” 18 February 2021, The Astrophysical Journal.
