Astronomers ‘by chance’ discover Milky Way’s largest stellar black hole
- The black hole, named Gaia BH3, has about 33 times the mass of our sun, and is the most massive stellar black hole known to date in our galaxy
- Stellar black holes are created from the collapse of massive stars at the end of their lives and are smaller than supermassive black holes, whose creation is unknown
Astronomers identified the largest stellar black hole yet discovered in the Milky Way, with a mass 33 times that of the Sun, according to a study published on Tuesday.
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 (CNRS) at the Observatoire de Paris, Pasquale Panuzzo, said.
Gaia, which is dedicated to mapping the Milky Way galaxy, located BH3 2,000 light years away from Earth in the Aquila constellation.
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
Further observations from on-the-ground telescopes confirmed that it was a black hole with a mass far greater than the stellar black holes already in the Milky Way.