Scientists have discovered the second black hole closest to us - it is 3,800 light years away and has the mass of nine suns

The Gaia telescope, which a few years ago created the most detailed map of the Milky Way with nearly 2 billion stars, has made another discovery. It has discovered the second closest black hole to Earth.

Here's What We Know

The black hole is called Gaia BH2. It has a mass of nearly nine Suns and is 3,800 light years away from our planet in the constellation Centauri. Around the black hole rotates the star Gaia DR3 5870569352746779008 with a period of 1277 days.

Current models predict that there are about 100 million stellar-mass black holes in the Milky Way, produced by the collapse of supermassive stars. However, scientists have found about 20 such objects and about 50 more are candidates.

The black hole closest to Earth is called Gaia BH1. As you might have guessed, it too was discovered by the Gaia space observatory. The discovery was made in the fall of 2022. The black hole is 1560 light years away. It has a mass of 9.6 Suns and next to it is a star that resembles the Sun.

Source: The Universe Magazine