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File:Chandra image of Cygnus X-1.jpg

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English: Since its discovery in 1964, Cygnus X-1 has been one of the most intensively studied cosmic X-ray sources. About a decade after its discovery, Cygnus X-1 secured a place in the history of astronomy when a combination of X-ray and optical observations led to the conclusion that it was a black hole, the first such identification.

The Cygnus X-1 system consists of a black hole with a mass about 10 times that of the Sun in a close orbit with a blue supergiant star with a mass of about 20 Suns. Gas flowing away from the supergiant in a fast stellar wind is focused by the black hole, and some of this gas forms a disk that spirals into the black hole. The gravitational energy release by this infalling gas powers the X-ray emission from Cygnus X-1.

Although more than a thousand scientific articles have been published on Cygnus X-1, its status as a bright and nearby black hole continues to attract the interest of scientists seeking to understand the nature of black holes and how they affect their environment. Observations with Chandra and ESA's XMM-Newton are especially valuable for studying the property of the stellar wind that fuels Cygnus X-1, and determining its rate of spin.

This latter research has revealed that Cygnus X-1 is spinning very slowly. This puzzling result could indicate that Cygnus X-1 may have formed in an unusual type of supernova that somehow prevented the newly formed black hole from acquiring as much spin as other stellar black holes.
Date
Source http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/381549main_cygX1_final_665.jpg linked from http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/chandra/multimedia/photo09-065.html
Author NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory; Credits: NASA/CXC

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Public domain This file is in the public domain in the United States because it was solely created by NASA. NASA copyright policy states that "NASA material is not protected by copyright unless noted". (See Template:PD-USGov, NASA copyright policy page or JPL Image Use Policy.)
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27 August 2009

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Date/TimeThumbnailDimensionsUserComment
current19:06, 13 August 2015Thumbnail for version as of 19:06, 13 August 20152,400 × 2,400 (3.72 MB)PineLarger version. Source http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2011/cygx1/more.html, credit NASA/CXC
16:02, 11 September 2009Thumbnail for version as of 16:02, 11 September 2009665 × 665 (61 KB)Marshallsumter{{Information |Description={{en|1=Chandra image of Cygnus X-1.}} |Source=NASA/CXC |Author=NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory |Date=2009-08-27 |Permission=''Images produced by NASA are usually free of copyright [...]'' |other_versions= }} Since its discovery

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