New results from long-term observations of Cygnus X-1

Observations of Cyg X-1 between 1974 October and 1975 July reveal a persistent 5/subd/./sub /6 modulation of the 3--6 keV X-ray intensity, having a minimum in phase with superior conjunction of the HDE 226868 binary system. The modulation is found to be most pronounced just prior to the 1975 April--May increase of Cyg X-1, after which both the modulation and intensity are at their lowest values for the entire duration of the observations. These data imply that the X-ray emission from Cyg X-1 arises from the compact member of HDE 226868, and that the increase of 1975 April--May may have represented the depletion of accreting material which had not yet been mixed into a cylindrically symmetric accretion disk about the compact member