SMC X-1 Comparison Table

Astronomy View all facts Glossary Help

physical object > natural object > celestial body > collection of stars > star system > binary star > SMC X-1

Next binary star: spectroscopic binary Up: binary star Previous binary star: Sirius

SMC X-1 comparison table

Subject is part of is a kind of is an instance of has orbital period has synonym has definition

binary star star system A system of two stars orbiting around a common center of gravity. Visual binaries are those whose components can be resolved telescopically (i.e., angular separation > 0'.5) and which have detectable orbital motion. Astrometric binaries are those whose dual nature can be deduced from their variable proper motion; spectroscopic binaries, those whose dual nature can be deduced from their variable radial velocity. At least half of the stars in the solar neighborhood are members of binary (or multiple) systems. (See photometric binaries; optical pairs.)

SMC X-1 Small Magellanic Cloud binary star 3.89-day 2U 0115-73 An X-ray source in the Small Magellanic Cloud. It is a binary system. Identified with Sanduleak No. 160, a B0 I supergiant (m_v = + 13.6). Because no radial-velocity variations are apparent in Sk 160, the mass of the X-ray emitter must be small relative to Sk 160 (about 2 M_sun if Sk 160 is 20 M_sun), unlike the compact member of CygX-1.

Subject	is part of	is a kind of	is an instance of	has orbital period	has synonym	has definition
binary star		star system				A system of two stars orbiting around a common center of gravity. Visual binaries are those whose components can be resolved telescopically (i.e., angular separation > 0'.5) and which have detectable orbital motion. Astrometric binaries are those whose dual nature can be deduced from their variable proper motion; spectroscopic binaries, those whose dual nature can be deduced from their variable radial velocity. At least half of the stars in the solar neighborhood are members of binary (or multiple) systems. (See photometric binaries; optical pairs.)
SMC X-1	Small Magellanic Cloud		binary star	3.89-day	2U 0115-73	An X-ray source in the Small Magellanic Cloud. It is a binary system. Identified with Sanduleak No. 160, a B0 I supergiant (m_v = + 13.6). Because no radial-velocity variations are apparent in Sk 160, the mass of the X-ray emitter must be small relative to Sk 160 (about 2 M_sun if Sk 160 is 20 M_sun), unlike the compact member of CygX-1.

Next binary star: spectroscopic binary Up: binary star Previous binary star: Sirius