Type

Stellar mass

Location

in the constellation Sagittarius

Distance

27,000 light-years

Mass

Roughly 10 times the mass of the Sun

Size

Diameter roughly equal to the size of a large city

Discovery Methods

• Detection of an accretion disk

An artist's concept depicts the type of binary system that creates an X-ray nova. The black hole is at right, encircled by a disk of superhot gas and squirting jets of particles into space from its poles. The nova outburst occurred when the disk became unstable and produced a large explosion. [ESA] [ESA]

This document was last modified: May 31, 2011.