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Article: Gamma-ray space telescope discovers hidden black holes.
- Article from:
- Science Letter
- Article date:
- November 3, 2003
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2003 NOV 3 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Integral, the European Space Agency's powerful gamma-ray space telescope, has discovered what seems to be a new class of astronomical objects.
These are binary systems, probably including a black hole or a neutron star, embedded in a thick cocoon of cold gas. They have remained invisible so far to all other telescopes.
Integral was launched a year ago to study the most energetic phenomena in the universe. Integral detected the first of these objects, called IGRJ16318-4848, on January 29, 2003. Although astronomers did not know its distance, they were sure it was in our galaxy. Also, after some analysis, ...