Taking the Pulse of a Black Hole System
chandra_472 January 12th, 2011
Credit: X-ray (NASA/CXC/Harvard/J.Neilsen et al); Optical (Palomar DSS2)
Researchers monitored this system with Chandra and RXTE for over eight hours and saw that it pulses in X-ray light every 50 seconds. This type of rhythmic cycle resembles an electrocardiogram of a human heart, though at a slower pace. The inset to the upper left shows a Chandra image of the system, while the one to the lower right contains the light curve revealing its 'heartbeat.' The main graphic shows the crowded field containing GRS 1915 in optical light from the Digital Sky Survey.
Provider: Chandra X-ray Observatory
Image Source: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2011/g1915/
Curator: Chandra X-ray Observatory, Cambridge, MA, USA
Image Use Policy: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/image_use.html
View Options
Download Options
Image Details
Distance
Position Details
Color Mapping
- ID
- 472
- Subject Category
- B.3.1.10 B.3.6.1
- Subject Name
- GRS 1915+105
- Credits
- X-ray (NASA/CXC/Harvard/J.Neilsen et al); Optical (Palomar DSS2)
- Release Date
- 2011-01-12
- Lightyears
- 40,000
- Redshift
- 40,000
- Reference Url
- http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2011/g1915/
- Type
- Observation
- Image Quality
- Good
- Distance Notes
- Facility
- Chandra, DSS, DSS, DSS
- Instrument
- ACIS, DSS2IR, DSS2R, DSS2B
- Color Assignment
- Purple, Red, Green, Blue
- Band
- X-ray, IR, Optical, Optical
- Bandpass
- X-ray, Near-IR, R-band, B-band
- Central Wavelength
- 0.8267, 798, 660, 443
- Start Time
- Integration Time
- Dataset ID
- Notes
- Coordinate Frame
- Equinox
- J2000
- Reference Value
- 288.435275765, 11.300081423
- Reference Dimension
- 9329, 9328
- Reference Pixel
- 4665, 4664.25
- Scale
- -5.59248000000000e-04, 5.59248000000000e-04
- Rotation
- 0.061893265
- Coordinate System Projection:
- TAN
- Quality
- FITS Header
- Notes
- Creator (Curator)
- Chandra X-ray Observatory
- URL
- http://chandra.harvard.edu
- Name
- Chandra X-ray Observatory Center
- cxcpub@cfa.harvard.edu
- Telephone
- 617.496.7941
- Address
- 60 Garden St.
- City
- Cambridge
- State/Province
- MA
- Postal Code
- 02138
- Country
- USA
- Rights
- http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/image_use.html
- Publisher
- Chandra X-ray Center
- Publisher ID
- chandra
- Resource ID
- g1915.tif
- Resource URL
- http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2011/g1915/g1915.tif
- Related Resources
- Metadata Date
- 2012-08-22
- Metadata Version
- 1.2
Detailed color mapping information coming soon...
