A superluminal source in the Galaxy

An unusually massive stellar black hole in the Galaxy

“…This in turn would imply a larger donor mass, thus making the black hole mass estimate (see below) a lower limit when using M d = 1.2 M ⊙ . The orbital inclination of the GRS 1915+105 binary can be deduced from the orientation of the jet, which in turn is derived from the brightness and the velocities of both the approaching and the receding blobs [11,10]. This angle of ≈ 70 • ± 2 • was observed to be constant over several years, indicating no measurable precession, and justifies us assuming that the jet is perpendicular to the accretion disk and orbital plane.…”

Special Relativity at Action in the Universe

“…Surprisingly, it was discovered superluminal motion in both of them (Mirabel & Rodriguez 1994;Hjellming & Rupen 1995). The most interesting observational fact is that in these two sources we see both the jet and the counter-jet.…”

Fluorescent iron lines as a probe of astrophysical black hole systems

“…A wide variety of lightcurve morphologies have been observed by RXTE [75]. Among the most interesting examples are GRO J1655−40 and GRS 1915+105, both of which were found to exhibit relativistic jets of plasma that were observed in the radio band with inferred velocities in excess of 0.9c [76,77]. Both of these sources have shown dramatic variability (see Fig.…”

“…Both of these sources have exhibited strong radio "jet ejection events" with apparent super-luminal motion and inferred velocities of 0.9 c [292,77]. As radio and X-ray studies continue to explore the physics of jets in these sources, and as X-ray spectroscopy continues to probe the innermost regions of the accretion flow near the event horizon, there is the hope that these observations can be combined to reveal answers to such fundamental physical issues such as the connection between black hole spin and jet production.…”