Scientists Have Discovered a Black Hole Close to Earth
Don't worry: "close" is still 1,000 lightyears away
This artist's conception illustrates one of the most primitive supermassive black holes known (central black dot) at the core of a young, star-rich galaxy. (Photo by: Photo12/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Astronomers have discovered a new black hole, and at 1,000 lightyears away from Earth, it’s the closest black hole in our solar system to ever be found.
The black hole, which is invisible, was discovered thanks to two nearby stars in the Telescopium constellation, making it a triple system. Scientists observed the triple system using the MPG/ESO 2.2-meter telescope at the European Southern Observatory’s La Silla Observatory in Chile.
“We were totally surprised when we realized that this is the first stellar system with a black hole that can be seen with the unaided eye,” Petr Hadrava, co-author of a study on the black hole published by Astronomy & Astrophysics and Emeritus Scientist at the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic in Prague, in a statement.
The discovery of the triple system could lead to more similar systems being uncovered in the near future.
“We realized that another system, called LB-1, may also be such a triple, though we’d need more observations to say for sure,” Marianne Heida, study co-author and postdoctoral fellow at the European Southern Observatory, said in a statement.“LB-1 is a bit [farther] away from Earth but still pretty close in astronomical terms,so that means that probably many more of these systems exist. By finding and studying them we can learn a lot about the formation and evolution of those rare stars that begin their lives with more than about 8 times the mass of the Sun and end them in a supernova explosion that leaves behind a black hole.”
