Biggest black hole in Milk Way 'extremely close' to Earth discovered by astronomers

A black hole is an object so compact (usually a collapsed star) that nothing can escape its gravitational pull

The largest stellar-mass black hole ever discovered in our galaxy is “extremely close” to Earth, according to astrological researchers. Named Gaia BH3, the black hole is 33 times larger than the sun.

By comparison, Cygnus X-1, the next biggest black hole in our galaxy, weighs 21 solar masses. Gaia BH3 is located approximately 2,000 light-years away in the Aquila constellation. This distance makes the large black hole the second closest to Earth.

In the April 16 edition of Astronomy and Astrophysics, the astronomy researchers published their findings on Gaia BH3. “No one was expecting to find a high-mass black hole lurking nearby, undetected so far,” said Pasquale Panuzzo, who is a Gaia collaboration member, and an astronomer at the Paris Observatory, part of France’s National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS). “This is the kind of discovery you make once in your research life,” reports Live Science.

Collapsing giant stars form black holes after they grow by consuming gas, dust, stars, and other black holes. There are two known varieties of black holes: stellar-mass black holes, which can vary in size from a few to a few dozen times the size of the sun.

Meanwhile, supermassive black holes are gargantuan in scale. They can range from a couple of million to 50 billion times bigger than the sun.

Intermediate-mass black holes, while not yet definitively being confirmed to exist, are hypothetically imagined as being between 100 to 100,000 times the size of the sun. There have been several occasions where astronomers found promising signs of potential intermediate-mass black holes, but proof still remains elusive.

However, by finding baby black holes and analyzing how they could evolve and grow, as well as their impact on their environment, scientists are optimistic that they can glean knowledge of intermediate-mass black holes.

The European Space Agency’s Gaia spacecraft was used to spot Gaia BH3. The technologically sophisticated craft maps the coordinates and movements of the stars in the Milky Way, which number approximately 2 billion. By analyzing this data, researchers found a “wobbly” star, which is described as a star whose trajectory isn’t smooth.

The explanation for this wobble, according to the researchers, is a black hole in close proximity. The astronomers cross-referenced the Gaia data with that of the Very Large Telescope in the Atacama Desert in Chile, in order to confirm the existence of the black hole.

The astrological specialists found that Gaia BH1, a black hole 1,500 light-years away, is the only black hole closer to Earth than Gaia BH3. The specialist insists further study is required, but that the star orbiting the black hole exhibited signs of being “metal-poor”.

This means that the star lacked elements that are heavier than hydrogen and helium. According to some researchers, this could mean that smaller black holes can be created by stars that fuse less of their nuclear fuel.

For the latest local news and features on Irish America, visit our homepage here.