Artist's Conception of SS 433The massive OB star orbits a black hole companion every 13 days. Material from the OB star spills onto the black hole and forms an accretion disk. Two narrow jets of material are ejected at 1/4 the speed of light. The cause of the jets is not clear, but they must originate in the vicinity of the black hole, presumably from the inner edge of the accretion disk. The jets precess with a period of 164 days (like a wobbling spinning top).
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HEASARC Home | Observatories | Archive | Calibration | Software | Tools | Students/Teachers/Public Last modified: Thursday, 26-Jun-2003 13:48:45 EDT HEASARC Staff Scientist Position - Applications are now being accepted for a Staff Scientist with significant experience and interest in the technical aspects of astrophysics research, to work in the High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center (HEASARC) at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in Greenbelt, MD. Refer to the AAS Job register for full details. |