2009/08/31 by Jimmy A. Irwin, Thomas G. Brink, Joel N. Bregman +2 · 76 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Astrophysics #Balmer series #Black hole (networking) #Doubly ionized oxygen #Emission spectrum #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Galaxy #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #Globular cluster #Intermediate-mass black hole #Physics #Solar mass #Spectral line #Star cluster #Stellar black hole #astro-ph.HE
paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/2041-8205/712/1/l1
published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters 712(1), L1-L4 (IOP Publishing) · 5 pages, 2 figures, accepted by Astrophysical Journal Letters, moderate changes since last revision, main conclusions unchanged
arxiv created 2010/01/26 · openalex publication_date 2010/02/24 · arxiv updated 2015/05/13 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
We report [O iii ] λ5007 and [N ii ] λ6583 emission from a globular cluster harboring the ultraluminous X-ray source CXOJ033831.8 − 352604 in the Fornax elliptical galaxy NGC 1399. No accompanying Balmer emission lines are present in the spectrum. One possibility is that the forbidden lines emanate from X-ray-illuminated debris of a star that has been tidally disrupted by an intermediate-mass black hole, with this debris also feeding the black hole leading to the observed X-ray emission. The line strengths indicate that the minimum size of the emitting region is ∼10 15 cm, and if the 70 km s −1 half-widths of the emission lines represent rotation around the black hole, a minimum black hole mass of 1000 M ☉ is implied. The non-detection of Hα and Hβ emission lines suggests a white dwarf star was disrupted, although the presence of strong nitrogen emission is somewhat of a mystery.