Equipped with three X-ray payloads and a UV telescope, AstroSat meticulously documented soft and hard X-ray emissions alongside far ultraviolet radiation, crafting a comprehensive portrayal of the proximal and distal domains surrounding the black hole in MAXI J1820+070

In February 2024, India’s Space Astronomy Observatory, AstroSat, announced that it has led an international team to study the mysteries of the X-ray binary system MAXI J1820+070. This system contains a black hole and is known for its transient X-ray outbursts. 

According to a study published in The Astrophysical Journal, AstroSat’s multi-wavelength capabilities have helped scientists understand the system’s accretion states during its 2018 outburst. 

AstroSat is India’s first dedicated satellite, launched in 2015. It has previously observed rapid variability of high energy X-ray emission from a black hole system. 

In February 2024, India’s Space Astronomy Observatory, AstroSat, led an international team of scientists to study the X-ray binary system MAXI J1820+070. The system is located about 9,800 light-years from Earth. 

The team includes researchers from India, the United Kingdom, Abu Dhabi, and Poland, led by researchers from IUCAA, Pune. 

X-ray binaries are binary stars that are luminous in X-rays. They are made up of a normal star and a collapsed star, which may be a white dwarf, neutron star, or a black hole. X-rays are produced by matter falling from one component to the other, which releases gravitational potential energy as X-rays. 

The age of the black hole in MAXI J1820+070 was estimated in 2022 using the object’s Galactic position, mass accretion rate, and evolutionary history. 

MAXI J1820+070 is a transient black hole X-ray binary that was first detected in 2018. It was discovered by a Japanese X-ray telescope on the International Space Station. 

MAXI J1820+070 is known for its energetic outbursts. These outbursts occur when the black hole absorbs material from its companion star and emits X-ray jets from its poles at nearly the speed of light

An X-ray binary system is a close binary system where a neutron star or black hole is accreting matter from a normal star. The stars rotate around each other, and the collapsed star has about the same mass as the Sun but has shrunk to ten kilometers or less in radius. 

The system produces X-rays if the stars are close enough together that material is pulled off the normal star by the gravity of the dense, compact star. 

A high-mass X-ray binary (HMXB) is a binary star system that is strong in X rays. The normal stellar component is a massive star, and the compact, X-ray emitting, component is a neutron star or black hole. 

Cygnus X-1 is a high-mass X-ray binary system, comprising the first generally accepted black hole and a massive supergiant companion star

X-ray binaries are important because they can help scientists understand the physical mechanisms of accretion and the nature of compact objects. 

X-ray binaries also contain accreting neutron stars and stellar-mass black holes, which are the end points of massive star evolution. Studying these remnants can provide clues to understanding the evolutionary processes that lead to their formation. 

High-mass X-ray binaries are ideal places to study dense stars, stellar winds, material exchange between binary stars, and the evolution of massive binary stars. 

Some X-ray binary systems show radio bursts, and studying these systems can give us information about the black hole/neutron star, accretion rate, and more. 

Black holes in X-ray binaries are accretion disks of inwardly spiraling gas. These disks are sources of soft and hard X-ray emission, and sometimes soft gamma-ray emission

Black holes are formed when a massive star explodes in a supernova. They are so massive that light cannot escape their surface. 

Black holes are detected when the force of gravity funnels surrounding material into a disk around the black hole. The gas molecules in the disk swirl around the black hole so fast that they heat up and emit X-rays. These X-rays can be detected from Earth

X-ray binaries are a class of binary stars that are luminous in X-rays. The X-rays are produced by matter falling from one component, called the donor (usually a relatively normal star), to the other component, called the accretor, which is either a neutron star or black hole.

Cygnus X-1 is a famous X-ray binary system in the constellation Cygnus. Cygnus X-1 is the brightest X-ray source in the constellation and is believed to be a stellar mass black hole. 

Cygnus X-1 is a binary system consisting of a blue supergiant star and a companion that is likely a black hole. The system was discovered in 1971 and consists of a blue supergiant and an invisible companion that is 14.8 times the mass of the Sun. The stars revolve around each other in a period of 5.6 days. 

Cygnus X-1 is about 7,200 light-years away. In 1964, astronomers detected the first signs of the black hole when a sounding rocket detected celestial sources of X-rays. In 1975, physicists Stephen Hawking and Kip Thorne had a friendly scientific wager over whether Cygnus X-1 was a black hole. Hawking conceded the bet in 1990 after observational data strengthened the case for a black hole in the system

Scorpius X-1 and Cygnus X-1 were the first X-ray binaries to be discovered in the constellations of Scorpius and Cygnus respectively. Scorpius X-1 was discovered in 1962 and was the first X-ray source discovered outside the Solar System. Cygnus X-1 was discovered in 1964 and was the first X-ray binary suspected of having a black hole. 

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