It is ‘just’ 1,926 light-years away and 33 times larger than our sun.
In addition to the supermassive black hole that is located at the center of our galaxy, the Milky Way is also home to a number of smaller stellar black holes that are formed when a big star crashes. However, the majority of these star black holes have not yet been found, despite the fact that scientists predict there are 100 million of them in our galaxy alone. On average, the ones that have already been discovered are approximately ten times larger than our sun, with the largest one reaching a mass of twenty-one solar masses. However, as a result of the data gathered by the Gaia mission of the European Space Agency, scientists have found a stellar black hole that is 33 times larger than our sun. This makes it the largest black hole of its sort that we have ever observed in our galaxy up until this point. Because it is around 1,926 light-years away from our planet, it is also very close to us.
The European Space Agency (ESA) scientists who were analyzing the data from the mission to search for anything out of the ordinary were the ones who first became aware of Gaia BH3, as it is now known. The wobbling of an old giant star from the Aquila constellation, which was located nearby, drew their attention, which ultimately led to the revelation that the star was orbiting a gigantic black hole. Because it does not have any celestial things that are close enough to it to feed it stuff and cause it to light up in X-ray telescopes, BH3 was difficult to discover despite the fact that it is so close to our world. It is now the second closest known black hole to our planet. Up to the time of its discovery, we had only discovered black holes of equal size in galaxies that were very far away.
In order to verify the magnitude of the recently found celestial body, the European Space Agency (ESA) team utilized data obtained from ground-based telescopes such as the European Southern Observatory. Additionally, they issued a report that had preliminary findings prior to the release of a more complete one in the year 2025. This was done so that their contemporaries may begin researching Gaia BH3. However, for the time being, they are aware that the star that is orbiting it contains very few elements that are heavier than hydrogen and helium. Furthermore, given that stellar pairs typically have compositions that are comparable to one another, it is possible that the star that collapsed to make BH3 was the same.
Scientists have long held the belief that metal-poor stars are the ones that are capable of producing high-mass black holes when they collapse. This is due to the fact that these stars lose less mass over the course of their lifespan. It is possible that at the time they pass away, they would still have a significant amount of materials available to them, which would allow them to construct a large black hole. It appears that this is the first evidence that we have discovered that establishes a connection between stars with low metal content and big stellar black holes. Furthermore, it is evidence that ancient gigantic stars originated in a different manner than the more recent ones that we observe in our galaxy.
In the future, it is quite probable that we will witness additional in-depth research efforts concerning binary systems and stellar black holes that make use of data from BH3 and its companion star. BH3 is going to be the subject of additional investigations as we work toward unraveling the mysteries of the universe, according to the European Space Agency (ESA), which believes that the finding of BH3 is just the beginning.