![]() This means the star would have only lived a short time, maybe only a few million years. The researchers said if the black hole formed the traditional way – from the gravitational collapse of a star – that star would have been at least 20 times the mass of our sun. She is a project information specialist with the Gaia spacecraft team. Examinations of data collected on Gaia BH1 suggests “its existence is difficult to explain” using traditional evolutionary modeling methods, said Tineke Roegiers. The scientists said it remains unclear how the black hole formed in our Milky Way galaxy. While dormant, they give off nothing and are difficult to identify. When active, black holes give off high-energy light. El-Badry added that the black hole appears to be dormant, meaning not currently active. The telescopes also collected sensitive data on ultraviolet and near-infrared wavelengths.Įl-Badry said in a statement the Gemini observations “confirmed beyond a reasonable doubt” that the team had discovered a normal star and at least one black hole. The telescope in Chile and the Gemini instrument were able to provide the astronomers with high-resolution images. The researchers needed such telescopes to effectively observe the orbital motion of the black hole’s star. The team also used an instrument on the Gemini North telescope, which is based in Hawaii. One was the 6.5-meter Magellan Baade telescope, based at the Las Campanas Observatory in Chile. This effort involved six different highly sensitive telescopes across the world. El-Badry and his team then sought to confirm the discovery through numerous additional observations over a period of four months. Gaia has already discovered more than 800,000 multi-star systems. The black hole was first identified using the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Gaia spacecraft. He was the lead writer of a study describing the discovery in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Kareem El-Badry is an astrophysicist with the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and Germany’s Max Planck Institute for Astronomy. ![]() The star orbits the black hole at about the same distance as Earth orbits the sun. The newly discovered gravitational mass was identified by observing the motion of its orbiting star. The team said it is three times closer to Earth than the previous record-holder. ![]() The black hole is believed to weigh about 10 times the mass of our sun. They say it sits in the constellation of Ophiuchus. ![]() The researchers named the black hole Gaia BH1. In space, light moves about 9.4 trillion kilometers each year. A light year is the distance light travels in one year. They are believed to be formed from collapsed stars.Īn international group of astronomers recently announced the discovery of the black hole, which sits about 1,600 light years from Earth. Scientists say they have discovered the closest black hole to Earth.īlack holes are areas in space where gravity is so strong that nothing – not even light – can escape them. ![]()
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