Vlt/x-shooter Spectroscopy Of The Black Hole X-ray Binary Maxi J1659-152
Abstract
MAXI J1659-152 which was thought to be a Gamma-ray-burst when it was discovered on September 25, 2010, was later on confirmed as a Galactic black-hole X-ray binary. The source showed increase in brightness in almost all the wavebands during its X-ray outburst and was studied in detail in the X-rays which revealed it to be the shortest period (2.4 hrs) black-hole binary. During the outburst, it showed a number of interesting properties also at longer wavelengths, like the presence of radio-jets and variability in the optical bands. Following the X-ray outburst, we triggered the ESO-Very Large Telescope and obtained the optical and the near-infrared spectra of the source with the X-shooter spectrograph. The spectrum includes many broad double peak hydrogen and helium emission features. We present the various observations and discuss these in the context of the accretion flows and the jets in the compact black hole X-ray binary.
- Publication:
-
AAS/High Energy Astrophysics Division #12
- Pub Date:
- September 2011
- Bibcode:
- 2011HEAD...12.1311K