In the Cygnus constellation, 7,800 light-years away, astronomers have discovered an extraordinary trinary system involving a black hole and two companion stars. Known as V404 Cygni, this system defies traditional understandings of black hole formation by adding a newly identified, distantly orbiting third star to its complex gravitational dance.
Scientists were aware of V404 Cygni’s close-orbiting star, a companion feeding the black hole on a 6.5-day cycle. However, a third star orbiting at an astonishing 70,000-year interval was recently detected, making V404 Cygni the first known black hole system of this unique configuration. This discovery suggests that black hole formation might not always result from a supernova, a finding that challenges longstanding beliefs about these cosmic objects.
Typically, black holes are thought to form when a massive star undergoes a supernova explosion, ejecting outer layers and collapsing inward. This violent event, however, would likely disrupt any weak gravitational bonds with widely separated objects like the third star in V404 Cygni. The alternative model proposed for this system is “direct collapse,” where the massive star collapses directly into a black hole without an explosive supernova event. This theory aligns with the behavior observed in V404 Cygni, as simulations conducted by researchers suggest that the trinary system could have remained gravitationally bound through a direct collapse.
This insight could reveal new pathways in black hole formation, potentially shifting our understanding of how binary and triple star systems evolve into black hole systems. The presence of a third star could introduce unique evolutionary processes, supporting theories that many black hole binaries might form primarily through triple-star dynamics.
Published in Nature, this discovery sets the stage for further exploration into trinary black hole systems, raising intriguing questions about the ways these mysterious objects may come to be.
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