black holes, new discoveries, polarized x-rays, x-rays

Polarized X-Rays Reveal Shape, Orientation of Extremely Hot Matter Around Black Hole

Researchers’ recent observations of a stellar-mass black hole called Cygnus X-1 reveal new details about the configuration of extremely hot matter in the region immediately surrounding the black hole. Matter is heated to millions of degrees as it is pulled toward a black hole. This hot matter glows in X-rays. Researchers are using measurements of ...

Troy Oakes

The Cygnus X-1 system.