Chandra X-Ray Image of Cygnus X-1 (IMAGE)
Caption
Over three decades ago, Stephen Hawking placed -- and eventually lost - a bet against the existence of a black hole in Cygnus X-1. Today, astronomers are confident the Cygnus X-1 system contains a black hole. In fact, a team of scientists has combined data from radio, optical, and X-ray telescopes including Chandra to determine the black hole's spin, mass, and distance more precisely than ever before. With these key pieces of information, the history of the black hole has been reconstructed. This is an X-ray image of Cygnus X-1 from the Chandra X-ray Observatory.
Credit
NASA/CXC
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