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A 15.65-solar-mass black hole in an eclipsing binary in the nearby spiral galaxy M 33

Author

Listed:
  • Jerome A. Orosz

    (San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile Drive, San Diego, California 92182-1221, USA)

  • Jeffrey E. McClintock

    (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA)

  • Ramesh Narayan

    (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA)

  • Charles D. Bailyn

    (Yale University, PO Box 208101, New Haven, Connecticut 06520-8101, USA)

  • Joel D. Hartman

    (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA)

  • Lucas Macri

    (National Optical Astronomy Observatory, 950 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, Arizona 85719, USA)

  • Jiefeng Liu

    (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA)

  • Wolfgang Pietsch

    (Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik, Giessenbachstraße, D-85741 Garching, Germany)

  • Ronald A. Remillard

    (MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, 37-287, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA)

  • Avi Shporer

    (Wise Observatory, Tel Aviv University)

  • Tsevi Mazeh

    (Wise Observatory, Tel Aviv University)

Abstract

A black hole writ large It's important to try to work out the weight — or more properly the mass — of a distant stellar object because it plays such a large part in determining its behaviour. Black holes are of particular interest, but are not easy targets. The usual way of weighing a black hole is to determine its gravitational pull on a nearby object, and that has now been achieved for a black hole in the recently discovered binary system M 33 X-7, in the nearby galaxy Messier 33. At 15.7 solar masses, it is the most massive 'stellar-mass' black hole known. Its companion star is one of the most massive known stars, at around 70 solar masses, and M 33 X-7 is 16 times more distant than any other confirmed stellar black hole.

Suggested Citation

  • Jerome A. Orosz & Jeffrey E. McClintock & Ramesh Narayan & Charles D. Bailyn & Joel D. Hartman & Lucas Macri & Jiefeng Liu & Wolfgang Pietsch & Ronald A. Remillard & Avi Shporer & Tsevi Mazeh, 2007. "A 15.65-solar-mass black hole in an eclipsing binary in the nearby spiral galaxy M 33," Nature, Nature, vol. 449(7164), pages 872-875, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:449:y:2007:i:7164:d:10.1038_nature06218
    DOI: 10.1038/nature06218
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