APOD: 2020 August 31 – SS 433: Binary Star Micro Quasar

Good morning, Rallypoint. Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) is tktled "SS-433: Binary Star Micro Quasar." The full name for a micro quasar is 'radio emitting X-ray binary star.' They are similar to quasars: strong and variable radio emission, often resolvable as a pair of radio jets, and an accretion disk surrounding a compact object (such as a black hole or neutron star). With quasars, the compact object is believed to be supermassive (e.g. millions of times more massive than our Sun). Microquasars feature a central object that is only a few times more massive than our Sun.

This 49-second video clip is based on observed data. As the video starts, material is shown being gravitationally pulled from the normal star and falling onto an accretion disk. The central star also blasts out jets of ionized gas in opposite directions – each at about 1/4 the speed of light. The video then pans out to show a top view of the precessing jets producing an expanding spiral. From even greater distances, the dissipating jets are then visualized near the heart of its supernova remnant home, W50.