Cygnus X-3

Cygnus X-3 is a high-mass X-ray binary (HMXB), one of the stronger binary X-ray sources in the sky. It is often considered to be a microquasar, and it is believed to be a compact object in a binary system which is pulling in a stream of gas from an ordinary star companion. It is one of only two known HMXBs containing a Wolf–Rayet star. It is invisible visually, but can be observed at radio, infrared, X-ray, and gamma-ray wavelengths.

Cygnus X-3
Observation data
Epoch J2000.0      Equinox J2000.0 (ICRS)
Constellation Cygnus
Right ascension 20h 32m 25.78s
Declination +40° 57 27.9
Characteristics
Spectral type WN 4–6
Apparent magnitude (H) 13.192
Apparent magnitude (J) 15.309
Apparent magnitude (K) 11.921
Astrometry
Radial velocity (Rv)208+113
−127
 km/s
Distance7,400±1,100 pc
Absolute magnitude (MV)−4.5
Orbit
Period (P)4.8 hours
Semi-amplitude (K1)
(primary)
379+124
−149
km/s
Details
WR
Mass8–14 M
Radius<2 R
Luminosity209,000+93,000
−64,000
 L
Temperaturemore than 80,000 K
compact object
Mass2.4+2.1
−1.1
 M
Other designations
V1521 Cyg, 18P 57, WR 145a, X Cyg X-3, RX J2032.3+4057, INTEGRAL1 118, 2U 2030+40, 3U 2030+40, 4U 2030+40.
Database references
SIMBADdata
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