SPACERIUM

V404 Cygni is one of the most captivating black hole binary systems known to astronomers. Located approximately 7,800 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus , this system consists of a stellar-mass black hole and a companion star. The interactions between these two objects provide profound insights into the mechanisms of accretion, relativistic jet formation, and stellar evolution in the vicinity of a black hole. In this blog, we will explore the characteristics of both the black hole and the companion star within the V404 Cygni system, and how their interactions manifest in the observable universe. The Black Hole: A Compact Object of Extremes The black hole in V404 Cygni, with a mass roughly nine times that of the Sun, belongs to the class of stellar-mass black holes. These black holes are the remnants of massive stars that have undergone gravitational collapse after exhausting their nuclear fuel. The end state of such a star, having shed its outer layers in a supernova explos...

  The Milky Way is our home galaxy, a giant collection of stars, dust, gas, and dark matter. Here's a rundown of what we know about it: Age: The Milky Way is estimated to be around 13.6 billion years old, which is roughly the same age as the universe itself! Size and Mass:  The Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy, estimated to be roughly 100,000 light-years across and containing a mass of about 100 billion times that of our sun. Stars: It's a stellar metropolis! The Milky Way is estimated to contain between 100 and 400 billion stars, with a variety of types including everything from giant, burning stars to faint, cool dwarfs. Star Formation: Our galaxy isn't static, new stars are constantly being born from collapsing clouds of gas and dust. The current star formation rate is estimated to be around 2 solar masses per year. Collisions: The Milky Way isn't alone in the universe! It has a larger neighbor, the Andromeda Galaxy, and they are on a collision course. In about 4....