Black holes: Casting light on X-ray emissions

The opportunity to observe a black hole at both X-ray and optical wavelengths comes along rarely. It was achieved in 1982 for the candidate black hole GX 339-4, and the second chance came between January and August 2000, the unusually long duration of the X-ray transient XTE J1118+480. This is a candidate black hole about 6,000 light-years away in the Milky Way's halo. The unexpected correlation between optical and X-ray emissions, and a puzzling dip in the optical just before an X-ray peak, pose some puzzling questions for current models of emissions from black holes.

Correlated fast X-ray and optical variability in the black-hole candidate XTE J1118+480
G. KANBACH, C. STRAUBMEIER, H. C. SPRUIT & T. BELLONI
Nature 414, 180-182 (8 November 2001)
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8 November 2001 table of contents