Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

A 300-parsec-long jet-inflated bubble around a powerful microquasar in the galaxy NGC 7793

Abstract

Black-hole accretion states near or above the Eddington luminosity (the point at which radiation force outwards overcomes gravity) are still poorly known because of the rarity of such sources. Ultraluminous X-ray sources1 are the most luminous class of black hole (LX ≈ 1040 erg s−1) located outside the nuclei of active galaxies. They are likely to be accreting at super-Eddington rates, if they are powered by black holes with masses less than 100 solar masses. They are often associated with shock-ionized nebulae2,3, though with no evidence of collimated jets. Microquasars with steady jets are much less luminous. Here we report that the large nebula S26 (ref. 4) in the nearby galaxy NGC 7793 is powered by a black hole with a pair of collimated jets. It is similar to the famous Galactic source SS433 (ref. 5), but twice as large and a few times more powerful. We determine a mechanical power of around a few 1040 erg s−1. The jets therefore seem 104 times more energetic than the X-ray emission from the core. S26 has the structure of a Fanaroff–Riley type II (FRII-type) active galaxy: X-ray and optical core, X-ray hot spots, radio lobes6 and an optical and X-ray cocoon. It is a microquasar where most of the jet power is dissipated in thermal particles in the lobes rather than relativistic electrons.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Optical/X-ray image of the 300-pc-diameter jet-inflated bubble S26 in the galaxy NGC 7793.
Figure 2: Chandra/ACIS-S spectra of the triple X-ray source in S26.
Figure 3: The stellar and high-excitation nebular content of S26.
Figure 4: Spectrum of Doppler-broadened emission lines of S26 indicating an expansion velocity of 250 km s−1.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Ward, M. Luminous X-ray sources in spiral and star-forming galaxies. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. A 360, 1991–2003 (2002)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  2. Pakull, M. W. & Mirioni, L. Optical counterparts of ultraluminous X-ray sources. Preprint at 〈http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0202488〉 (2002)

  3. Pakull, M. W. & Mirioni, L. Bubble nebulae around ultraluminous X-ray sources. Rev. Mex. Astron. Astrofis. (Ser. Conf.) 15, 197–199 (2003)

    ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Blair, W. P. & Long, K. S. Identification of supernova remnants in the Sculptor galaxies NGC 300 and NGC 7793. Astrophys. J. Suppl. Ser. 108, 261–277 (1997)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Fabrika, S. The jets and the supercritical accretion disk in SS433. Astrophys. Space Phys. Rev. 12, 1–153 (2004)

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  6. Pannuti, T. G. et al. An X-ray, optical and radio search for supernova remnants in the nearby Sculptor group Sd galaxy NGC 7793. Astrophys. J. 565, 966–981 (2002)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Pakull, M. W., Grisé, F. & Motch, C. in Populations of High Energy Sources in Galaxies (eds Meurs, E. J. A. & Fabbiano, G.) 293–297 (IAU Symp. 230, Cambridge Univ. Press, 2006)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Pakull, M. W. & Grisé, F. in A Population Explosion: The Nature & Evolution of X-ray Binaries in Diverse Environments (eds Bandyopadhyay, R. M., Wachter, S., Gelino, D. & Gelino, C. R.) 303–307 (AIP Conf. Proc. 1010, American Institute of Physics, 2008)

    Google Scholar 

  9. Karachentsev, I. D. et al. Distances to nearby galaxies in Sculptor. Astron. Astrophys. 404, 93–111 (2003)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  10. Read, A. M. & Pietsch, W. ROSAT observations of the Sculptor galaxy NGC 7793. Astron. Astrophys. 341, 8–22 (1999)

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  11. Wilson, A. S., Smith, D. A. & Young, A. J. The cavity of Cyg A. Astrophys. J. 644, L9–L12 (2006)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  12. Clark, J. S. & Crowther, P. A. On the Wolf-Rayet Counterpart to IC 10 X-1. Astron. Astrophys. 414, L45–L48 (2004)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Silverman, J. M. & Filippenko, A. V. On IC 10 X-1, the most massive known stellar-mass black hole. Astrophys. J. 678, L17–L20 (2009)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  14. Lozinskaya, T. A. & Moiseev, A. V. A synchrotron superbubble in the IC 10 galaxy: a hypernova remnant? Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 381, L26–L29 (2007)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  15. Asvarov, A. I. Radio emission from shell-type supernova remnants. Astron. Astrophys. 459, 519–533 (2006)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  16. Allen, M. G., Groves, B. A., Dopita, M. A., Sutherland, R. S. & Kewley, L. J. The MAPPINGS III library of fast radiative shock models. Astrophys. J. Suppl. Ser. 178, 20–55 (2008)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Weaver, R., McCray, R., Castor, J., Shapiro, P. & Moore, R. Interstellar bubbles. II. Structure and evolution. Astrophys. J. 218, 377–395 (1977)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Kaiser, C. R. & Alexander, P. A self-similar model for extragalactic radio sources. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 286, 215–222 (1997)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  19. Dopita, M. A. & Sutherland, R. S. Spectral signatures of fast shocks. I. Low-density model grid. Astrophys. J. Suppl. Ser. 102, 161–188 (1996)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Begelman, M. C., Hatchett, S. P., McKee, C. F., Sarazin, C. L. & Aarons, J. Beam models for SS433. Astrophys. J. 238, 722–730 (1980)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Begelman, M. C., King, A. R. & Pringle, J. E. The nature of SS433 and the ultraluminous X-ray sources. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 370, 399–404 (2006)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  22. Bogovalov, S. V. & Kel’ner, S. R. Dissipationless disk accretion. Astron. Rep. 49, 57–70 (2005)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  23. Heinz, S. Radio lobe dynamics and the environment of microquasars. Astron. Astrophys. 388, L40–L43 (2002)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  24. Ito, H., Kino, M., Nozomu, K., Isobe, N. & Shoishi, Y. The estimate of kinetic power of jets in FR II radio galaxies: existence of invisible components? Astrophys. J. 685, 828–838 (2008)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Kennicutt, R. C. Jr et al. An Hα imaging survey of galaxies in the local 11 Mpc volume. Astrophys. J. Suppl. Ser. 178, 247–279 (2008)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Dopita, M. A. & Sutherland, R. S. Astrophysics of the Diffuse Universe 200-204 (Springer, 2003)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  27. Raymond, J. C. et al. Spatial and spectral interpretation of a bright filament in the Cygnus Loop. Astrophys. J. 324, 869–892 (1988)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was based on observations made with ESO telescopes at the Paranal Observatory under program 084.D-0881 (M.W.P.), and made use of the ESO/ST-ECF Science Archive facility, which is a joint collaboration of the ESO and the Space Telescope European Coordinating Facility. Data were obtained from the Chandra Data Archive and software was provided by the Chandra X-ray Center. R.S. acknowledges support from an Early-Career Leverhulme Fellowship and hospitality at the University of Sydney during part of this work.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

M.W.P. designed the study and analysed the optical spectroscopic observations. R.S. contributed the X-ray spectral analysis and the relative astrometric calibrations of the multiband datasets. C.M. carried out the reductions and analysis of the optical imaging data. All authors discussed the results and made substantial contributions to the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Manfred W. Pakull or Roberto Soria.

PowerPoint slides

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Pakull, M., Soria, R. & Motch, C. A 300-parsec-long jet-inflated bubble around a powerful microquasar in the galaxy NGC 7793. Nature 466, 209–212 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature09168

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature09168

This article is cited by

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing