Nov 3, 2024
Physicists discover first “black hole triple”
Posted by Cecile G. Tamura in categories: cosmology, physics
In a recent discovery, astronomers have found that the black hole in the well-known low-mass X-ray binary (LMXB) system V404 Cygni is part of a much larger structure—a wide triple system.
Many black holes detected to date appear to be part of a pair. These binary systems comprise a black hole and a secondary object — such as a star, a much denser neutron star, or another black hole — that spiral around each other, drawn together by the black hole’s gravity to form a tight orbital pair.
Now a surprising discovery is expanding the picture of black holes, the objects they can host, and the way they form.
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