Institut für Astronomie & Astrophysik

Revisiting 
Vela X-1 – Getting to know an old friend better can lead to surprises

Peter Kretschmar, ESA/ESAC — 25.01.2021

Within a larger collaboration we have revisited the literature and data of the archetypical High-Mass X-ray Binary Vela X-1, one of the best studied members of its class, due to its early detection, persistent X-ray emission and a rich phenomenology at many wavelengths. But doing so has not only confirmed existing knowledge, but also led to some surprises. In this presentation I will summarize the effort and our findings, which sometimes challenge widely used assumptions.