Abstract
KEMP et al.1,2 recently claimed to have discovered a 39-d period in the linear polarisation of the U band light for HDE 226868, the optical counterpart of Cygnus X – 1. Within the errors their period is exactly seven times the 5.60-d orbital period of this binary system. Based on this result Milgrom and Shaham3 produced a model for Cyg X – 1 involving a three-body system in which the third component is in a 39-d orbit about the 5.6-d X-ray binary system. This note draws attention to the absence of a 39-d period in other data on this star.
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WALKER, E., WATSON, M. & HOLT, S. The 39-d period in Cyg X – 1. Nature 270, 229–230 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1038/270229a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/270229a0
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