Microquasars in the Galaxy

Microquasars are X-ray binary stars capable of generating relativistic jets. Galactic microquasars are one of the most recent additions to the field of high energy astrophysics and have attracted increasing interest over the last decade. They are now primary targets for all space-based observatories working in the X-ray and ? -ray domains. The hope is that their study will enable us to understand some of the analogous phenomena observed in distant quasars and active galactic nuclei, which have practically the same scaled-up physics as microquasars. Microquasars are also believed to be among the sources responsible for the violent and everchanging appearance of the ? -ray sky. This paper provides a general review of the field of microquasars, including their identification and study, and discusses the recent observational and theoretical discoveries which we regard as being of most relevance