Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

Relativistic motion in a nearby bright X-ray source

Abstract

THE recent discovery1 of radio components apparently moving away from a Galactic source of transient X-ray emission faster than the speed of light (superluminal motion) has identified a low-energy Galactic counterpart to quasars. Here we report high-resolution radio observations of a second Galactic superluminal radio source GRO J1655-40, which was detected as an X-ray transient2 on 27 July 1994. Our radio images reveal two components moving away from each other at an angular speed of 65 ± 5 mas d-1, corresponding to superluminal motion at the estimated distance of 3–5 kpc. The 12-day delay between the X-ray and radio outbursts suggests that the ejection of material at relativistic speeds occurs during a stable phase of accretion onto a black hole, which follows an unstable phase with a high accretion rate.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Mirabel, I. F. & Rodriguez, L. F. Nature 371, 46–48 (1994).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  2. Zhang, S. N. et al. IAU Circ. No. 6046 (1994).

  3. Campbell-Wilson, D. & Hunstead, R. IAU Circ. No. 6052 (1994).

  4. Jauncey, D. L. et al. in Very High Angular Resolution Imaging (eds Robertson, J. & Tango, W.) 131–133 (Kluwer, Dordrecht, 1994).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  5. Preston, R. A. et al. in Sub-Arcsecond Radio Astronomy (eds Davis, R. J. & Booth, R. J.) 428–430 (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1993).

    Google Scholar 

  6. Vermeulen, R. C., Schilizzi, R. T., Icke, V., Fejes, I. & Spencer, R. E. Nature 328, 309–313 (1987).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  7. Della Valle, M. IAU Circ. No. 6052 (1994).

  8. Crawford, I. A., Barlow, M. J. & Blades, J. C. Astrophys. J. 336, 212–230 (1989).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Caswell, J. L., Murray, J. D., Roger, R. S., Cole, D. J. & Cooke, D. J. Astr. Astrophys. 45, 239–258 (1975).

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  10. Pearson, T. J. & Zensus, J. A. in Superluminal Radio Sources (eds Pearson, T. J. & Zensus, J. A.) 1–11 (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1987).

    Google Scholar 

  11. Wilson, C. A. et al. IAU Circ. 6056 (1994).

  12. Blandford, R. D. & Payne, D. G. Mon. Not. R. astr. Soc. 199, 883–903 (1982).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  13. Spencer, R. E., Swinney, R. W., Johnston, K. J. & Hjellming, R. M. Astrophys. J. 309, 694–699 (1986).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Tingay, S., Jauncey, D., Preston, R. et al. Relativistic motion in a nearby bright X-ray source. Nature 374, 141–143 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1038/374141a0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/374141a0

This article is cited by

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing