Artist’s impression of the closest black hole to Earth and its Sun-like companion star (IMAGE)

Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA)

Artist’s impression of the closest black hole to Earth and its Sun-like companion star

Caption

Astronomers using the International Gemini Observatory, operated by NSF’s NOIRLab, have discovered the closest-known black hole to Earth. This is the first unambiguous detection of a dormant stellar-mass black hole in the Milky Way. Its close proximity to Earth, a mere 1600 light-years away, offers an intriguing target of study to advance our understanding of the evolution of binary systems.

Credit

International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/J. da Silva/Spaceengine/M. Zamani

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License

CC BY

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