A PARALLAX DISTANCE TO THE MICROQUASAR GRS 1915+105 AND A REVISED ESTIMATE OF ITS BLACK HOLE MASS
Using the Very Long Baseline Array, we have measured a trigonometric parallax for the microquasar GRS 1915+105, which contains a black hole and a K-giant companion. This yields a direct distance estimate of 8.6[+2.0 over -1.6] kpc and a revised estimate for the mass of the black hole of 12.4[+2.0 ov...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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IOP Publishing
2015
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/93111 |
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| author | Reid, M. J. McClintock, Jeffrey E. Steiner, J. F. Steeghs, D. Dhawan, V. Narayan, Ramesh Remillard, Ronald A |
| author2 | MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research |
| author_facet | MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research Reid, M. J. McClintock, Jeffrey E. Steiner, J. F. Steeghs, D. Dhawan, V. Narayan, Ramesh Remillard, Ronald A |
| author_sort | Reid, M. J. |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Using the Very Long Baseline Array, we have measured a trigonometric parallax for the microquasar GRS 1915+105, which contains a black hole and a K-giant companion. This yields a direct distance estimate of 8.6[+2.0 over -1.6] kpc and a revised estimate for the mass of the black hole of 12.4[+2.0 over -1.8] M [subscript ☉]. GRS 1915+105 is at about the same distance as some H II regions and water masers associated with high-mass star formation in the Sagittarius spiral arm of the Galaxy. The absolute proper motion of GRS 1915+105 is –3.19 ± 0.03 mas yr[superscript –1] and –6.24 ± 0.05 mas yr[superscript –1] toward the east and north, respectively, which corresponds to a modest peculiar speed of 22 ± 24 km s[superscript –1] at the parallax distance, suggesting that the binary did not receive a large velocity kick when the black hole formed. On one observational epoch, GRS 1915+105 displayed superluminal motion along the direction of its approaching jet. Considering previous observations of jet motions, the jet in GRS 1915+105 can be modeled with a jet inclination to the line of sight of 60° ± 5° and a variable flow speed between 0.65c and 0.81c, which possibly indicates deceleration of the jet at distances from the black hole [> over ~] 2000 AU. Finally, using our measurements of distance and estimates of black hole mass and inclination, we provisionally confirm our earlier result that the black hole is spinning very rapidly. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T16:42:53Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/93111 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T16:42:53Z |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/931112022-09-29T20:57:50Z A PARALLAX DISTANCE TO THE MICROQUASAR GRS 1915+105 AND A REVISED ESTIMATE OF ITS BLACK HOLE MASS Reid, M. J. McClintock, Jeffrey E. Steiner, J. F. Steeghs, D. Dhawan, V. Narayan, Ramesh Remillard, Ronald A MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research Remillard, Ronald Alan Using the Very Long Baseline Array, we have measured a trigonometric parallax for the microquasar GRS 1915+105, which contains a black hole and a K-giant companion. This yields a direct distance estimate of 8.6[+2.0 over -1.6] kpc and a revised estimate for the mass of the black hole of 12.4[+2.0 over -1.8] M [subscript ☉]. GRS 1915+105 is at about the same distance as some H II regions and water masers associated with high-mass star formation in the Sagittarius spiral arm of the Galaxy. The absolute proper motion of GRS 1915+105 is –3.19 ± 0.03 mas yr[superscript –1] and –6.24 ± 0.05 mas yr[superscript –1] toward the east and north, respectively, which corresponds to a modest peculiar speed of 22 ± 24 km s[superscript –1] at the parallax distance, suggesting that the binary did not receive a large velocity kick when the black hole formed. On one observational epoch, GRS 1915+105 displayed superluminal motion along the direction of its approaching jet. Considering previous observations of jet motions, the jet in GRS 1915+105 can be modeled with a jet inclination to the line of sight of 60° ± 5° and a variable flow speed between 0.65c and 0.81c, which possibly indicates deceleration of the jet at distances from the black hole [> over ~] 2000 AU. Finally, using our measurements of distance and estimates of black hole mass and inclination, we provisionally confirm our earlier result that the black hole is spinning very rapidly. 2015-01-22T13:18:58Z 2015-01-22T13:18:58Z 2014-10 2014-07 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 1538-4357 0004-637X http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/93111 Reid, M. J., J. E. McClintock, J. F. Steiner, D. Steeghs, R. A. Remillard, V. Dhawan, and R. Narayan. “A PARALLAX DISTANCE TO THE MICROQUASAR GRS 1915+105 AND A REVISED ESTIMATE OF ITS BLACK HOLE MASS.” The Astrophysical Journal 796, no. 1 (October 29, 2014): 2. © 2014 The American Astronomical Society en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0004-637x/796/1/2 The Astrophysical Journal Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf IOP Publishing American Astronomical Society |
| spellingShingle | Reid, M. J. McClintock, Jeffrey E. Steiner, J. F. Steeghs, D. Dhawan, V. Narayan, Ramesh Remillard, Ronald A A PARALLAX DISTANCE TO THE MICROQUASAR GRS 1915+105 AND A REVISED ESTIMATE OF ITS BLACK HOLE MASS |
| title | A PARALLAX DISTANCE TO THE MICROQUASAR GRS 1915+105 AND A REVISED ESTIMATE OF ITS BLACK HOLE MASS |
| title_full | A PARALLAX DISTANCE TO THE MICROQUASAR GRS 1915+105 AND A REVISED ESTIMATE OF ITS BLACK HOLE MASS |
| title_fullStr | A PARALLAX DISTANCE TO THE MICROQUASAR GRS 1915+105 AND A REVISED ESTIMATE OF ITS BLACK HOLE MASS |
| title_full_unstemmed | A PARALLAX DISTANCE TO THE MICROQUASAR GRS 1915+105 AND A REVISED ESTIMATE OF ITS BLACK HOLE MASS |
| title_short | A PARALLAX DISTANCE TO THE MICROQUASAR GRS 1915+105 AND A REVISED ESTIMATE OF ITS BLACK HOLE MASS |
| title_sort | parallax distance to the microquasar grs 1915 105 and a revised estimate of its black hole mass |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/93111 |
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