The first accurate parallax distance to a black hole

Details The first accurate parallax distance to a black hole The first accurate parallax distance to a black hole

2009-10-27

arxiv.org/abs/0910.5253v1

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Accepted for publication in ApJ Letters. 6 pages, 2 figures

Scientific paper

Using astrometric VLBI observations, we have determined the parallax of the black hole X-ray binary V404 Cyg to be 0.418 +/- 0.024 milliarcseconds, corresponding to a distance of 2.39 +/- 0.14 kpc, significantly lower than the previously accepted value. This model-independent estimate is the most accurate distance to a Galactic stellar-mass black hole measured to date. With this new distance, we confirm that the source was not super-Eddington during its 1989 outburst. The fitted distance and proper motion imply that the black hole in this system likely formed in a supernova, with the peculiar velocity being consistent with a recoil (Blaauw) kick. The size of the quiescent jets inferred to exist in this system is less than 1.4 AU at 22 GHz. Astrometric observations of a larger sample of such systems would provide useful insights into the formation and properties of accreting stellar-mass black holes.

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