Spring 2019 ASTR 2030 X-ray Binary Systems

Spring 2019 ASTR 2030 Homepage

syllabus | timetable | projects | homework | clicker questions | weekly summaries | classroom capture | books, movies | images

The x-ray sky observed by the HEAO-1 satellite (1980)

Allsky map of x-ray sources from HEAO-1

Cygnus X-1 (black hole)

Cygnus-X1 is a 5.599829 day binary
in which a 14.8 ± 1.0 solar mass black hole accretes from a 19.2 ± 1.9 solar mass giant star (Orosz et al. 2011).
Its spin parameter, greater than 0.95, is near maximal (Guo et al. 2011).
It has a relativistic jet (Gallo et al. 2005).


X-ray	Optical
Radio
Artist's impression

Hercules X-1 (neutron star)

X-ray pulsations of Her X-1

X-ray image of Her X-1

The microquasar (x-ray binary with jets) XTE J1550-564

XTE J1550-564

The sound of X-rays from GRS1915+105, an x-ray binary with a jet, from the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer. The sound includes:

“lub-dubbing” pulsations produced by jets;
high pitched “whistling” from quasi-periodic oscillations in the rotating disk.

Spring 2019 ASTR 2030 Homepage

syllabus | timetable | projects | homework | clicker questions | weekly summaries | classroom capture | books, movies | images

Updated 2019 Jan 10