|
Urquhart et al. have reported the discovery of a powerful candidate
microquasar in the nearby spiral galaxy NGC 300. Chandra images show
four discrete X-ray knots aligned in the plane of the sky over a
length of 150 pc. The X-ray core, if present at all, does not stand
out above the thermal emission of the knots: this suggests that the
accreting compact object is either currently in a dim state or
occulted from our view. Observations with the Australia Telescope
Compact Array revealed an elongated radio nebula (about 170 × 55 pc in
size) with its major axis aligned with the chain of Chandra
sources. The morphology, size and luminosity of the extended X-ray,
optical and radio structure suggest that NGC 300-S 10 is a new member
of a small class of powerful microquasars which includes SS433. Full
details are available in
the paper, published in
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
|
