2003/04/01 by T. P. Roberts, E. J. M. Colbert · 3 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #Binary black hole #Binary number #Black hole (networking) #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Galaxy #Intermediate-mass black hole #Luminosity #Spiral galaxy #Supernova remnant #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1046/j.1365-8711.2003.06670.x
published as Mon.Not.Roy.Astron.Soc. 341 (2003) L49 · 6 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS
arxiv created 2003/04/01 · openalex publication_date 2003/06/01 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We present evidence, based on Chandra ACIS-S observations of the nearby spiral galaxy NGC 6946, that the extraordinary X-ray luminosity of the MF 16 supernova remnant actually arises in a black hole X-ray binary. This conclusion is drawn from the point-like nature of the X-ray source, its X-ray spectrum closely resembling the spectrum of other ultraluminous X-ray sources thought to be black hole X-ray binary systems, and the detection of rapid hard X-ray variability from the source. We briefly discuss the nature of the hard X-ray variability, and the origin of the extreme radio and optical luminosity of MF 16 in light of this identification.