Extreme object
Cygnus X-1
Cygnus X-1 is a black hole 7 300 light-years away, weighing between 13.8 and 17.5 Suns.
The first black hole anyone was sure of, found in 1964 by its X-rays. It is eating a blue supergiant, HDE 226868.
See it live
It is on the live 3D map, where it really is.
Key facts
- Kind
- Black hole
- Distance
- 7 300 light-years
- Mass
- 15.65 Suns
See it from here
Too faint for the eye; a telescope, or a long photograph, shows it.
How the map draws it
Drawn as a ring at its measured distance; a black hole has no shape to draw and a pulsar is far too small — the kind of thing, not this exact one.