Astronomers have discovered a high-mass black hole, named Gaia BH3, located 2,000 light years away from Earth. The black hole was found by chance through data collected by the Gaia mission, which is dedicated to mapping the Milky Way galaxy. Further observations confirmed that Gaia BH3 has a mass far greater than the stellar black holes already known in the Milky Way.
The black hole , named Gaia BH3, was discovered “by chance” from data collected by the European Space Agency’s Gaia mission, an astronomer from the National Centre for Scientific Research at the Observatoire de Paris, Pasquale Panuzzo, told AFP.
As Gaia’s telescope can give a precise position of stars in the sky, astronomers were able to characterise their orbits and measure the mass of the star’s invisible companion — 33 times that of the Sun. “No one was expecting to find a high-mass black hole lurking nearby, undetected so far. This is the kind of discovery you make once in your research life,” Panuzzo said in a press release.
“We could see a star a little smaller than the Sun and brighter, that revolved around an invisible companion,” Panuzzo said.
Astronomy Black Hole Gaia Mission Milky Way Discovery
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