Gaia BH3

Why in News?

Recently, the astronomers have discovered a gigantic black hole, Gaia BH3.

• Gaia BH3 – It is a dormant black hole, and it is the 3^rd kind of Gaia Black Hole.
• It is the 1^st black hole found in the Milky Way galaxy’s outer reaches and the largest known stellar-mass black hole in the galaxy.
• Discovered in – 2024.
• Discovered by – European Space Agency’s Gaia telescope.

Gaia telescope has been constantly monitoring the motions of billions of stars in the galaxy since 2013 under European Space Agency’s astrometry mission.

• Distance – 1,926 light-years from Earth, which makes it the 2^nd closest black hole to the Earth.
• Located in – About 2,000 light years away in the constellation.
• Constellation – Aquila and appears to be a passive black hole.
• Solar Mass – Nearly 33 times the mass of the Sun.

• Features – It isn’t actively pulling material from its surroundings due to lacks of significant supply of matter in its neighborhood.
• It doesn’t have associated X-ray emissions either.

References

1. The Hindu| Gigantic Black Hole, Gaia BH3
2. ESA| Gaia BH3