Astronomy: The discovery of a black hole near Earth

A new black hole has been discovered in space – only 1,600 light-years from Earth. It was identified by astronomers based on the motions of its companion star.

Astronomers have discovered a so-called black hole in space that is closer to Earth than other known phenomena of this type. It’s 10 times larger than the sun, and 1,600 light-years from Earth, said Karim El-Badri of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, which is three times closer than the closest black hole identified so far.

Companion star tip

Al-Badri said the nearby black hole was first identified by the European spacecraft Gaia. His team followed the path with the Gemini International Observatory in Hawaii and confirmed the results. The black hole was discovered based on the motions of its companion star. This orbits the hole at roughly the same distance as the Earth orbits the Sun.

It is unclear to the researchers how the system formed in the Milky Way. He named it Gaia BH1 and is located in the constellation Ophiuchius – the German name is the Serpent Bearer.