In 1999 a violent X-ray outburst revealed it to contain a black hole.[6] At the time, it was considered to be the closest known black hole to Earth, at a distance of approximately 1,600 light-years (490 pc). Later observations showed it to be much farther away, reported in 2001 to be between 7.4 and 12.31 kpc,[7]6.2 kpc in 2014,[4] and around 6.6 kpc according to its Gaia Data Release 2 parallax.[2]
The star in the binary system is a late B class giant with a mass about three times that of the Sun. It orbits a black hole about twice as massive every 2.8 days. The star is distorted, which causes variations in its brightness as it orbits and rotates. It is also slightly eclipsed by an accretion disc around the black hole. The system usually does not produce a significant amount of x-rays, but undergoes outbursts when the x-ray luminosity increases due to accretion onto the black hole driving superluminal jets.[7]
^ abOrosz, J. A.; et al. (July 2001). "A Black Hole in the Superluminal Source SAX J1819.3-2525 (V4641 SGR)". The Astrophysical Journal. 555 (1): 489–503. arXiv:astro-ph/0103045. Bibcode:2001ApJ...555..489O. doi:10.1086/321442. S2CID50248739. Finally, we find a distance in the range 7.40 ≤ d ≤ 12.31 kpc (90% confidence), which is at least a factor of ≈ 15 larger than the initially assumed distance of ≈ 1,600 light-years/500 pc.
^Alfaro, R.; Alvarez, C.; Arteaga-Velázquez, J. C.; Avila Rojas, D.; Ayala Solares, H. A.; Babu, R.; Belmont-Moreno, E.; Caballero-Mora, K. S.; Capistrán, T.; Carramiñana, A.; Casanova, S.; Cotti, U.; Cotzomi, J.; Coutiño de León, S.; De la Fuente, E.; Depaoli, D.; Di Lalla, N.; Diaz Hernandez, R.; Dingus, B. L.; DuVernois, M. A.; Durocher, M.; Díaz-Vélez, J. C.; Engel, K.; Espinoza, C.; Fan, K. L.; Fang, K.; Fraija, N.; Fraija, S.; García-González, J. A.; Garfias, F.; Gonzalez Muñoz, A.; González, M. M.; Goodman, J. A.; Groetsch, S.; Harding, J. P.; Herzog, I.; Hinton, J.; Huang, D.; Hueyotl-Zahuantitla, F.; Hüntemeyer, P.; Iriarte, A.; Joshi, V.; Kaufmann, S.; Kieda, D.; de León, C.; Lee, J.; León Vargas, H.; Linnemann, J. T.; Longinotti, A. L.; Luis-Raya, G.; Malone, K.; Martinez, O.; Martínez-Castro, J.; Matthews, J. A.; Miranda-Romagnoli, P.; Morales-Soto, J. A.; Moreno, E.; Mostafá, M.; Nayerhoda, A.; Nellen, L.; Newbold, M.; Nisa, M. U.; Noriega-Papaqui, R.; Olivera-Nieto, L.; Omodei, N.; Osorio, M.; Pérez Araujo, Y.; Pérez-Pérez, E. G.; Rho, C. D.; Rosa-González, D.; Ruiz-Velasco, E.; Salazar, H.; Salazar-Gallegos, D.; Sandoval, A.; Schneider, M.; Serna-Franco, J.; Smith, A. J.; Son, Y.; Springer, R. W.; Tibolla, O.; Tollefson, K.; Torres, I.; Torres-Escobedo, R.; Turner, R.; Ureña-Mena, F.; Varela, E.; Villaseñor, L.; Wang, X.; Watson, I. J.; Willox, E.; Yun-Cárcamo, S.; Zhou, H. (17 October 2024). "Ultra-high-energy gamma-ray bubble around microquasar V4641 Sgr". Nature. 634 (8034): 557–560. arXiv:2410.16117. doi:10.1038/s41586-024-07995-9. PMID39415065.