The blackest hole closest to Earth has been discovered
The previous estimates of scientists speak of more than 10 million black holes in our galaxy and now discovered that which is closer to Earth than any other. It is located in the HR6819 system which consists of two stars and is 1,000 light years away. Astronomers discovered the black hole by observing that the stars were moving in orbit around an invisible object, and calculating the orbit of the inner star, they realized that this object had to be four times the mass of our Sun, so it had to be a black hole.
The system is close enough for anyone in the southern hemisphere to notice, even with the naked eye, on a clear, clear night. It is located in the constellation of Telescope.
This chart shows the location of the HR 6819 triple system, which includes the closest black hole to Earth, in the constellation of Telescopium. This map shows most of the stars visible to the unaided eye under good conditions and the system itself is marked with a red circle. While the black hole is invisible, the two stars in HR 6819 can be viewed from the southern hemisphere on a dark, clear night without binoculars or a telescope.
There must be hundreds of millions of black holes out there, but we only know a few. Knowing what to look for puts us in a better position to find them. – Thomas Rivinius, ESO
After revealing that what they considered to be a double system was revealed to be triple, scientists are reviewing other cases as what we see ” is just the tip of the iceberg .”
We realized that another system, LB-1, can also be triple and we need more observations to make sure. LB-1 is a little farther from Earth but very close to astronomical terms, so that means there could be many more such systems. By finding them and studying them we can learn a lot about the formation and evolution of these rare stars which start their life more than 8 times the mass of our Sun and end up in a supernova explosion leaving behind a black hole. – Marianne Heida, postdoctoral fellow at ESO
