Astronomers Find the closest black hole to Earth -- And you can see it with the naked eye
Astronomers have
discovered a new black hole, and it is Practically in our backyard. Researchers
say the black hole is just 1,000 light-years from Earth -- closer to our solar
system than any other discovered to date.
1,000 light-years Might
Appear far off, but on a cosmic scale, It is amazingly close. In contrast,
Sagittarius A*, the most notorious supermassive black hole in the center of the
Milky Way, is more than 25,000 light-years away, and also the initial black hole
to ever be captured on camera is 55 million light-years away, at a whole other
galaxy.
1,000 light-years is so
close that astronomers state the two Stars that dancing around the black hole
could be seen with the naked eye on a clear night at the Southern Hemisphere.
The stellar system is the first of its kind to be visible in this manner.
this black hole is located
in a system called HR 6819, in the constellation Telescopium, based on study
published Wednesday in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. Researchers
tracked the system using the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at the European
Southern Observatory's La Silla Observatory in Chile.
This artist's impression
shows the orbits of the objects in the HR 6819 triple system. This system is
made up of an inner binary with one star (orbit in blue) and a newly discovered
black hole (orbit in red), as well as a third object, another star, in a wider orbit
(also in blue). ESO/L. Calçada
When the team began its
study, astronomers were not Looking for a black hole. Rather they were
interested in analyzing double-star systems, and were shocked when a third,
previously undiscovered body was seen within HR 6819 -- which makes it a
triple-star system.
Unlike most black holes,
which can be spotted when they Violently interact with their surroundings, the
unique one seen in HR 6819 appears really black, making it totally invisible.
The group was only able to discover and research it by studying the warped
40-day orbit of one of its companion stars, which is nearby but not close
enough to be sucked in.
"An invisible object
with a mass at least four occasions That of the Sun can just be a black
hole," study co-author and ESO scientist Thomas Rivinius said in a media
release about the findings.
We don't know much about
the possible black holes scattered Across in our galaxy -- astronomers have
only seen a few dozen of them to date. However, the discovery of the black hole
could provide insight into the locations of others hidden in the Milky Way.
In Reality, astronomers
estimate there could be countless Countless undiscovered black holes .
"There must be
countless millions of black holes out There, however, we know about only very
few. Knowing what to look for should put us in a better place to locate
them," Rivinius said. ESO astronomer and study co-author Dietrich Baade
added finding a black hole at a triple system so close to Earth indicates that
it is only"the tip of an exciting iceberg."
And researchers have their
first guide. They think Another system, called LB-1, could also be a triple
star system, but more observations are required to confirm their suspicions.
"By discovering and
studying them we can learn a lot about The creation and development of these
rare stars that begin their lives with More than eight times the mass of the
Sun and finish them in a supernova Explosion that leaves behind a black
hole," stated co-author and ESO
