FT Contributes to New Observations of Active Black Hole
in
Recent observations of the X-ray Binary system, GX339-4, have alerted FT Team members and their colleagues to a new outburst of this enigmatic black hole system.
X-ray binaries are a type of binary star system, where one of the two components is a compact object, either a black hole or a neutron star. Material is dragged away from the companion ('normal') star onto the black hole or neutron star. Since the two components of the binary are orbiting their common centre of mass, this material doesnt fall directly onto the compact object. Instead, it spirals in by means of an accretion disc. The material in this disc slowly heats up to the point where towards the inner part of the disc, it can reach a temperature of several millions of Kelvin. At this point, it can radiate as a 'black-body', but its radiation is now in the X-ray part of the spectrum.
Where the FT is able to contribute is that although much of the system's radiation is in the X-ray regime (beyond the detection of anything other than orbiting X-ray satellites), the system does still emit radiation in visible wavelengths. This radiation is partly from the outer parts of the disc, and also from the jets that are often associated with this type of system.
GX339-4 is one of 30 similar X-ray binaries being monitored as part of a long-term monitoring campaign set up by FT Team researchers in collaboration with Dr David Russell at the University of Amsterdam, Professor Rob Fender (University of Southampton) and Dr Simon Clark (Open University).
