Scientists have recently discovered a new stellar black hole in our own galaxy, the Milky Way. Interestingly, the Milky Way is said to have the largest black hole ever discovered. It is at least 33 times larger than our Sun and is located 2000 light years away from us. That means it is not very far from the Earth. Astronomers on the European Southern Observatory’s Gaia mission spotted the supermassive black hole when they noticed a star wobble as it orbited the region.
This black hole has been named Gaia BH3. It is the second closest black hole to Earth and is located in the Aquila constellation. Pasquale Panuzzo, an astronomer at the National Center for Scientific Research at the Observatoire de Paris, said that no one expected to find a massive black hole hidden nearby, which had not been detected until now.
Black holes form when stars reach the end of their lives. Most of these stars swell, lose mass and cool to become white dwarfs, but other stars lose less mass and contain no heavy elements. These stars are called ‘metal-free stars’ and instead of becoming white dwarfs, they collapse on themselves and form a black hole.
Scientists say that there must be about 50 such black holes in the Milky Way. (Symbolic photo: NASA_JPL-Caltech)
This suggests that the star that collapsed to form the Gaia BH3 black hole may have been a metal-depleted star. More clues can be obtained from the wobbly stars orbiting it because the stars in the pair are similar. Interestingly, the wobbly star is also a metal-depleted star.
NASA scientists believe that there are more than 50 stellar black holes in the Milky Way galaxy. Earlier in January, astronomers said they had discovered the oldest black hole ever discovered, dating back to the early universe more than 13 billion years ago. The black hole is located in an ancient galaxy called GN-z11, located 13.4 billion light-years away, and was observed using the James Webb Space Telescope.
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FIRST PUBLISHED: April 16, 2024, 20:23 IST
