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Showing posts with label European Space Agency's XMM-Newton. Show all posts
Showing posts with label European Space Agency's XMM-Newton. Show all posts

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Star and a black hole revolving in rapid waltz


Space Telescope European Space Agency's XMM-Newton helped discover a star and a black hole that address near each other at high speed, making one revolution in just 2.4 hours - which is an hour shorter than the orbital period of the previous record holder.

A black hole in the close pair, known as the MAXI J1659-152, at least three times as massive as the Sun, while the mass of its companion star - a red dwarf star - only 20% of the solar mass.