Cygnus X-3
| Observation data Epoch J2000.0 Equinox J2000.0 (ICRS) | |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Cygnus |
| Right ascension | 20h 32m 25.78s |
| Declination | +40° 57′ 27.9″ |
| Characteristics | |
| Spectral type | WN 4–6 |
| Astrometry | |
| Radial velocity (Rv) | 208+113 −127 km/s |
| Distance | 7,400±1,100 pc |
| Absolute magnitude (MV) | −4.5 |
| Orbit | |
| Period (P) | 4.8 hours |
| Semi-amplitude (K1) (primary) | 379+124 −149 km/s |
| Details | |
| WR | |
| Mass | 8–14 M☉ |
| Radius | <2 R☉ |
| Luminosity | 209,000+93,000 −64,000 L☉ |
| Temperature | more than 80,000 K |
| compact object | |
| Mass | 2.4+2.1 −1.1 M☉ |
| Other designations | |
| V1521 Cyg, 18P 57, WR 145a, X Cyg X-3, RX J2032.3+4057, INTEGRAL1 118, 2U 2030+40, 3U 2030+40, 4U 2030+40 | |
| Database references | |
| SIMBAD | data |
Cygnus X-3 is a high-mass X-ray binary (HMXB), one of the stronger binary X-ray sources in the sky. It is often considered to be a microquasar, and it is believed to be a compact object in a binary system which is pulling in a stream of gas from an ordinary star companion. It is one of only two known HMXBs containing a Wolf–Rayet star. It is invisible visually, but can be observed at radio, infrared, X-ray, and gamma-ray wavelengths.