Scientists have discovered a small black hole lurking next to a star in the constellation Ophiuchus about 1,600 light-years away. This is the closest known black hole to Earth, named Gaia BH1.
Black holes are the densest celestial bodies in the universe. Whether they are ultra-small stellar black holes hiding in any dark corner, or supermassive black holes at the center of galaxies, they all have such strong gravitational fields that even the fastest photons cannot escape the event horizon. .
There is a supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, and scientists believe that there are at least 100 million stellar black holes in the Milky Way, but they are very quiet, low-key and isolated. If the black holes are not actively feeding (ie, dormant), they are basically the same as their surroundings. Blended together, hard to find.
Previously, scientists had discovered a 270-day microlensing event “MOA-2011-BLG-191/OGLE-2011-BLG-0462”, which may be a stellar black hole with a mass about 7.1 times that of the sun blocking the way of distant light. 5,150 light-years away from Earth.
Recently, scientists analyzed the data from the Gemini Northern Telescope and the Gaia satellite, and further discovered that a black hole named Gaia BH1 is lurking around a star. The former is only 10 times the mass of the sun, and it is the smallest black hole known to be closest to the earth. About 1,560 light years away.
There have also been many previous studies claiming to have discovered a system in which black holes and stars orbit each other, but almost all of them have been dismissed by follow-up observations. This study strongly confirms the discovery of a binary star system containing a star and a dormant black hole.
While standard evolutionary models of binary star systems cannot explain Gaia BH1, astronomers need to take a closer look at how the system formed and how many dormant black holes in the universe may be waiting to be poached.
(Source of the first image: NOIRLab)
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