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: | Observation |
| 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 • Stars Images/Videos • Quasars/AGN/Black Hole Images/Videos |
| Distance: | 5500 light years |
Colours & filters
| Band | Telescope |
| Optical R |
Hubble Space Telescope WFPC2 |
