Scientists discovered the largest black hole in the Milky Way
- April 21, 2024
- 0
Astronomers have identified the largest stellar black hole ever discovered in the Milky Way, with a mass of 33 times that of the Sun, according to a study
Astronomers have identified the largest stellar black hole ever discovered in the Milky Way, with a mass of 33 times that of the Sun, according to a study
Astronomers have identified the largest stellar black hole ever discovered in the Milky Way, with a mass of 33 times that of the Sun, according to a study published Tuesday. The black hole, called Gaia BH3, was discovered “by chance” in data collected by the European Space Agency’s Gaia mission, Pasquale Panuzzo, an astronomer at the Paris Observatory’s National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), told AFP.
Dedicated to mapping the Milky Way galaxy, Gaia locates BH3 in the constellation Aquila, 2,000 light-years from Earth. Because the Gaia telescope can determine the exact position of stars in the sky, astronomers were able to describe the stars’ orbits and measure the mass of the star’s invisible companion (33 times the mass of the Sun).
Subsequent observations using ground-based telescopes confirmed that this was a black hole with a mass much greater than the stellar black holes currently found in the Milky Way.
“No one expected to find an as-yet-undiscovered massive black hole lurking nearby. This is a once-in-a-lifetime discovery,” Panuzzo said in a press release.
The stellar black hole was discovered when scientists noticed “oscillations” of a companion star orbiting it.
“We could see a star slightly smaller than the Sun (about 75 percent of its mass) and brighter, orbiting an invisible companion,” Panuzzo said.
Stellar black holes are formed as a result of the collapse of massive stars at the end of their lives and are smaller than supermassive black holes, whose formation is not yet known. Such giants have already been detected using gravitational waves in distant galaxies.
But “never in ours,” Panuzzo said.
BH3 is a “dormant” black hole that is too far from its companion star to be devoid of matter, so it does not emit X-rays, making it difficult to detect. The Gaia telescope detected the first two inactive black holes in the Milky Way (Gaia BH1 and Gaia BH2).
Gaia has been operating 1.5 million kilometers from Earth for the last 10 years and has provided a 3D map of the positions and movements of more than 1.8 billion stars in 2022.
Source: Port Altele
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