Astronomers may have finally discovered Earth's closest black hole, and it orbits a Sun-like star and is much closer than you think.
Astronomers have discovered what very well may be Earth’s closest black hole. Dubbed Gaia BH1, the dormant black hole weighs around 10 times the mass of the Sun. It’s also located just 1,600 light-years away from Earth. This makes it three times closer to our planet than the previous holder of this title.
The discovery was made by astronomers who were observing the black hole’s companion, a Sun-like star that orbits the black hole at roughly the same distance the Earth orbits our Sun. Another contender for this title of Earth’s closest black hole was. This other system was believed to have a black hole, however, astronomers proved that wasn’t the case later on.
The first clue that this system might house Earth’s closest black hole came during the analysis of data from the European Space Agency’s Gaia spacecraft. Data showed that a star’s motion was showcasing irregularities caused by gravity from an unseen massive object, aA star being sucked up by a nearby black hole. Image source: European Southern Observatory
From that first analysis, the astronomers planned 39 additional observations of the system over the course of six four months using six different telescopes around the world.
It could also teach us more about the systems and parts of space that surround our own, especially those in close proximity to the Milky Way galaxy. And, because a black hole is believed to reside here, it could also teach us more about these cosmic entities, why some – like this one – are dormant, and why others continue to feed off the cosmic energy around them.
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