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 3rd kind of Gaia Black Hole.
- It is the 1st 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 2nd 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.
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Gaia’s Black Hole
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Gaia BH1
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- It is the closest black hole to the earth.
- Located in – About 1,560 light years away in the constellation Ophiuchus.
- Distance – 1.4% of Milky Way’s width.
- Galaxy’s centre – 26,670 light years away.
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Gaia BH2
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- Located in – About 3,800 light years away in the constellation Centaurus.
- Solar Masses – 9 times that of the sun.
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References
- The Hindu| Gigantic Black Hole, Gaia BH3
- ESA| Gaia BH3
