video: This is a simulation of the X-ray binary system Swift J1357.2-0933. The system is formed by a "normal" star which is transferring material (through an accretion disc) into a black hole. The simulation starts with a top view of the system and then moves to perspective of the system as seen from Earth. The system has a large inclination which allowed the team to observe an obscuring vertical structure in the accretion disc. This structure produces eclipses or dips to the light coming from the inner parts of the disc (close to the black hole). In the top-left panel we see these dips. Moreover, the vertical structure moves outward with the days which produces an increase in the dip recurrence period as shown in the top-right panel. This video relates to a paper that appeared in the March 1, 2013, issue of Science, published by AAAS. The paper, by Jesús Corral-Santana at Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias in La Laguna, Spain, and colleagues was titled, “A Black Hole Nova Obscured by an Inner Disk Torus.” view more
Credit: [Video courtesy of Gabriel Perez Diaz, Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (Servicio MultiMedia)]