Discovery of the largest stellar black hole ever in the Milky Way

A study published on April 16 said that astronomers have identified an unprecedented stellar black hole in the Milky Way .

It is estimated that the mass of black hole BH3 is 33 times larger than the mass of the Sun. (Photo: theguardian.com).

Astronomer Pasquale Panuzzo from the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) of the Paris Observatory (France) said that the black hole mentioned above, named Gaia BH3 , was discovered by chance thanks to data from the Agency. collected by the European Space Agency (ESA) during the Gaia mission. Mr. Panuzzo said scientists discovered BH3, when observing the 'wobbling' motion of a star orbiting a black hole. This star is 75% the mass of the Sun, but brighter than the Sun.

Black hole BH3 is located in the constellation Aquila, about 2,000 light years from Earth. Because the Gaia telescope can determine the exact positions of stars, astronomers can grasp the orbit and estimate the mass of BH3 to be 33 times greater than the mass of the Sun. Telescope images have confirmed that this is a more massive black hole than any other stellar black hole in the Milky Way.

Stellar black holes are created when massive stars collapse at the end of their lives. This black hole is smaller than supermassive black holes whose origin scientists have not yet determined. According to Mr. Panuzzo, previously, scientists have only discovered such large black holes in distant galaxies through gravitational waves.

BH3 was determined to be an inactive black hole , located too far from its companion star, thereby not emitting X-rays and making detection difficult.

Previously, the Gaia telescope also identified two other inactive black holes in the Milky Way, black holes BH1 and BH2 . The Gaia mission deployed 1.5 million kilometers above Earth over the course of a decade. In 2022, the mission provided 3D maps of the positions and movements of more than 1.8 billion stars.