Black-hole system GRO J1655-40 in Scorpius
NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image shows the Year 2001 observation of the black hole system GRO J1655-40 in the constellation of Scorpius. Hubble's high resolution has allowed astronomers to measure the motion of this black-hole system across the sky using this image and an image taken in 1996. Scientists combined the Hubble data with those obtained from ground-based telescopes and found that the black hole is moving through space with a velocity of 400 000 kilometres per hour. This has provided possibly the best evidence yet that stellar-mass black holes are made in supernova explosions. The 720-second exposure was taken through a red filter.
Credit:European Space Agency, NASA and Felix Mirabel (the French Atomic Energy Commission & the Institute for Astronomy and Space Physics/Conicet of Argentina)
About the Image
Id: | heic0211c |
Type: | Collage |
Release date: | 18 November 2002, 15:00 |
Related releases: | heic0211 |
Size: | 1192 x 1013 px |
About the Object
Name: | GRO J1655-40 |
Type: | Milky Way : Star : Evolutionary Stage : Black Hole Milky Way : Star : Grouping : Binary |
Distance: | 5500 light years |
Category: | Quasars and Black Holes Stars |
Colours & filters
Band | Telescope |
---|---|
Optical R |
Hubble Space Telescope
WFPC2 |