4U 1700-37 is one of the stronger binary X-ray sources in the sky, and is classified as a

high-mass X-ray binary X-ray binaries are a class of binary stars that are luminous in X-rays. The X-rays are produced by matter falling from one component, called the ''donor'' (usually a relatively normal star), to the other component, called the ''accretor'', which ...

. It was discovered by the Uhuru satellite. The "4U" designation refers to the fourth (and final) Uhuru catalog. The X-ray source is associated with a bright (6.53 V magnitude)

blue supergiant A blue supergiant (BSG) is a hot, luminous star, often referred to as an OB supergiant. They have luminosity class I and spectral class B9 or earlier. Blue supergiants are found towards the top left of the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram, above an ...

star HD 153919, which is orbited by an accreting compact object that must be either a

neutron star A neutron star is the collapsed core of a massive supergiant star, which had a total mass of between 10 and 25 solar masses, possibly more if the star was especially metal-rich. Except for black holes and some hypothetical objects (e.g. white ...

or a

black hole A black hole is a region of spacetime where gravitation, gravity is so strong that nothing, including light or other Electromagnetic radiation, electromagnetic waves, has enough energy to escape it. The theory of general relativity predicts t ...

. The X-ray source is eclipsed by the star every 3.4 days, but no pulsations have yet been observed. The source is one of the ten brightest persistent X-ray sources in the 10-100

keV Kev can refer to: Given name * Kev Adams, French comedian, actor, screenwriter and film producer born Kevin Smadja in 1991 * Kevin Kev Carmody (born 1946), Indigenous Australian singer-songwriter * Kev Coghlan (born 1988), Scottish Grand Prix motor ...

hard X-ray energy region. Evidence of Compton cooling during an X-ray flare recorded by the Chandra X-ray telescope strongly suggests that the compact object is a neutron star; if verified it would be among the most massive known, and near the boundary of the theoretical maximum. 4U 1700-37 is a runaway system. It has a high velocity of with respect to its parent cluster,

NGC 6231 NGC 6231 (also known as Caldwell 76) is an open cluster in the southern sky located half a degrees north of Zeta Scorpii. NGC 6231 is part of a swath of young, bluish stars in the constellation Scorpius known as the Scorpius OB1 association. The ...

. It was kicked out of the cluster about 2.2 million years ago by a

supernova A supernova is a powerful and luminous explosion of a star. It has the plural form supernovae or supernovas, and is abbreviated SN or SNe. This transient astronomical event occurs during the last evolutionary stages of a massive star or when ...

explosion.

References

External links

* * * * {{Stars of Scorpius Binary stars Scorpii, V884 Durchmusterung objects 153919 083499 Neutron stars O-type supergiants Rotating ellipsoidal variables X-ray binaries Runaway stars Scorpius (constellation)