Astronomers have discovered a new black hole, Gaia BH3, the second closest to Earth and the most massive in the Milky Way. 33 times more than the sun



Astronomers announce the discovery of a new black hole. Caused by the collapse of a star and has the largest mass in the Milky Way Galaxy, its mass is 33 times greater than the mass of the Sun. It is also the second closest black hole to Earth.

Astronomers have discovered a new black hole using the European Space Agency's (ESA) Gaia space telescope coinciding with the direction of the Vulture (Aquila) constellation.


After studying data from the stellar mapping project, the new black hole, called Gaia BH3, has a mass 33 times greater than our Sun and is about 2,000 light-years away from our solar system, second only to the black hole Gaia BH1, which is 1,560 light-years away from Earth. With a mass of about 9.6 times the mass of the Sun, Gaia BH3 becomes the second closest black hole to Earth.

Such a black hole is a stellar black hole is a type of black hole that arises from the gravitational collapse of a massive star with a mass of 20 times the mass of the Sun or more. The remnants of the collapse are stellar black holes. Even their mass is small compared to supermassive black holes, which are millions of times larger than the mass of the Sun.


Pasquale Panozzo of the National Center for Scientific Research, Paris Observatory The lead author of the discovery said that this discovery is also the first time that a black hole of massive stellar origin has been found within the Milky Way Galaxy, and until now, black holes of this type have only been seen in distant galaxies. This discovery gives astronomers More information to understand how massive stars develop and evolve.

Professor Carol Mundell, Scientific Director of the European Space Agency, said…


“This discovery goes beyond the original purpose of the mission. The goal is to create an ultra-resolution, multi-dimensional map of more than a billion stars throughout our Milky Way Galaxy.


The Vulture constellation is one of 88 constellations recognized by the International Astronomical Union. This constellation is located on the celestial equator. The brightest star in the constellation is the Eagle's Eye (the Eagle), which is one of the peaks of the “Summer Triangle” constellation.


Thanks for the information – reference image

• – www.medium.com

• – www.esa.int/Science_Exploration

– Thai Astronomical Society

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