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Article: X-rays from dim space hint at a black hole. (called Nova Persei 1992, the binary stars likely contain collapsed star with gravitational field that thwarts light) (Brief Article)
- Article from:
- Science News
- Article date:
- September 12, 1992
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1992 Science Service, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Last month an object in the constellation Perseus that had been so dim no one had ever detected it began spewing out a barrage of X-rays and gamma rays. NASA's Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (GRO) found that the puzzling source had become the most powerful radiator detected at the X-ray energy of 100,000 electron-volts.
Preliminary evidence now suggests that the object belongs to a special class of binary stars likely to contain a small black hole. Variously dubbed Nova Persei 1992 or GRO jo422+32 for its location in the sky or the observatory that discovered it, the object has X-ray and ultraviolet spectra resembling those of other candidate black holes that ...