| Issue |
A&A
Volume 376, Number 2, September II 2001
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Page(s) | L17 - L21 | |
| Section | Letters | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20011042 | |
| Published online | 15 September 2001 | |
VLT optical observations of V821 Ara(=GX339-4) in an extended "off" state*
1
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias 38200 La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
2
Astronomical Institute "Anton Pannekoek" , University of Amsterdam and Center for High Energy Astrophysics, Kruislaan, 403, 1098 SJ, Amsterdam, The Netherlands e-mail: rpf@@astro.uva.nl
3
Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Southampton, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK e-mail: pac@astro.soton.ac.uk
Corresponding author: T. Shahbaz, tsh@ll.iac.es
Received:
6
April
2001
Accepted:
19
July
2001
We report on low-resolution spectroscopy of GX339-4 during
its current, extended X-ray
"off" state in May 2000 (
) obtained with the VLT Focal Reducer/low dispersion
Spectrograph (FORS1). Although we do not positively detect the secondary star
in GX339-4 we place an upper limit of 30 percent on the contribution of a
"normal" K-type secondary star spectrum to the observed flux. Using this limit for
the observed magnitude of the secondary star, we find a lower limit for the
distance of GX339-4 to be 5.6 kpc.
Key words: stars: individual: GX339-4 / X-rays: stars / accretion, accretion disks / black hole physics
© ESO, 2001
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