The micro-quasar GRS 1915+105

• Discovery with WATCH All Sky Monitor on GRANAT

  • (Castro-Tirado et al. 1992)

• LMXB with K-M III companion (Greiner et al. 2001)

  • Radial velocity curves : 14 Msun; ~ 33 day period

• Galactic jet source with superluminal motion in radio

  • vjet ~ 0.92c; incl = 70 deg. (e.g. Mirabel & Rodriquez 1999)
  • ballastic AND steady jets (e.g. Fender 1999, Dhawan et al. 2000)

• ASCA during soft state (Kotani et al., 2000)

  • Ca XX, Fe (XXV, XXVI), and blends of H- and He-like Ni & Fe

• Highly variable : repeated flares, then periods of quiescence

• L ~ few x 1037 to few x 1039 erg s-1