Astronomers have discovered the closest-known black hole to Earth using the International Gemini Observatory. The discovery of a dormant stellar-mass black hole in the Milky Way is the first unambiguous detection.
Its close proximity to Earth, located only 1600 light-years away, makes it an intriguing target for research into the evolution of binary systems.
The black hole, called Baia BH1 is a dormant black hole about ten times the mass of the Sun that is located in the constellation Ophiuchus about 1600 light-years away.
This means it is three times closer to Earth than the previous record holder, a Monoceros X-ray binary.
The new discovery was made possible by meticulous observations of the black hole’s companion, a Sun-like star that orbits the black hole at roughly the same distance as the Earth orbits the Sun.
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