SS 433—On Masses and He ii Emission Line Data

Journal article

For very many years the recessional velocity variation of the He ii line at 4686 Å has been taken as a measure of the orbital velocity of the accreting black hole, powering microquasar SS 433. A recent paper has presented an extensive dataset in which this emission line is not eclipsed by the donor Companion, thereby casting doubt on such use. The mass of the compact object can be obtained without knowing the speed of the compact object; knowledge of the mass ratio determines this speed. The resulting value is in agreement with the recessional velocity variation of C ii emission lines; lines eclipsed by the Companion to the same extent as the photosphere of the accretion disk. The mass of the black hole is ∼ 15M⨀ .

Authors: Bowler, MG

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: IOP Publishing
• Journal: Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society
• Volume: 10
• Issue: 5
• Pages: 105
• Article number: 105
• Publication date: 2026-05-05
• Acceptance date: 2026-04-29
• DOI: 10.3847/2515-5172/ae6704
• EISSN: 2515-5172
• ISSN: 2515-5172
• Language: English
• Keywords: Stellar mass black holes