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Needy Companion
Featured on June 3, 2021
An artist's concept depicts Cygnus X-1, the first confirmed black hole ever discovered. The black hole is stealing gas from a giant blue companion star. The gas forms a disk around the black hole. Some of the gas escapes the black hole and is flung back into space in the form of high-speed jets from the black hole's poles. Recent research indicated that the system is farther than expected, which means the black hole and its companion are larger and more massive than earlier research had indicated. [International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research]
