Black holes have always attracted the attention of both scientists and the general public. The European Southern Observatory (ESO) has announced the discovery of the largest stellar black hole ever found in the Milky Way.
In this article we are going to tell you everything you need to know about the discovery of the largest black hole in the Milky Way.
what is a black hole
A black hole is a region of space-time where gravity is so intense that nothing, not even light, can escape its pull. It is formed when a massive star collapses under its own weight at the end of its life cycle.
One of the most notable aspects of black holes is their gravitational singularity.. Within the region called the event horizon, gravity is so intense that nothing can leave, not even light. This creates a kind of invisible border beyond which we cannot observe or detect anything.
Black holes come in different sizes. The smallest ones, known as primordial black holes, can have the mass of an asteroid but be compressed into an incredibly small space. On the other hand, there are supermassive black holes, which are found at the center of most galaxies, including our own Milky Way. These can have masses equivalent to millions or even billions of times that of the Sun.
A key characteristic of black holes is their singularity, a point of infinite density where the known laws of physics no longer apply. However, the singularity is wrapped in an event horizon, which means that, from the outside, The black hole appears to have a finite and defined size.
In addition to their mass, black holes are characterized by their rotation. If a star collapses asymmetrically, the resulting black hole can spin. This rotation affects the structure of space-time around it, allowing the black hole to drag nearby matter and energy with it.
The emission of radiation from a black hole, known as Hawking radiation, is another interesting aspect. According to the theory proposed by Stephen Hawking, black holes are not completely black, but rather emit a small amount of thermal radiation due to quantum effects near their event horizon.
They discover the largest black hole in the Milky Way
The European Southern Observatory (ESO) has announced the discovery of the largest stellar black hole ever found in the Milky Way. Astronomers have identified a black hole with a mass 33 times that of the Sun, using data from the Gaia mission. Gaia, a space observatory operated by the European Space Agency (ESA), It is responsible for collecting information from Earth's orbit to build the most detailed and accurate three-dimensional map of our galaxy, the Milky Way.
Using data collected by ESO's remarkably large telescope and several other Earth-based observatories, scientists were able to confirm the weight of the black hole, which surprisingly amounts to 33 times the mass of our Sun. This remarkable discovery was made possible by the peculiar effect of "wobble" exerted by the black hole on its companion star in orbit. Stellar black holes are born from the collapse of massive stars, and those that have been identified so far within the Milky Way tend to be about 10 times more massive than our Sun, on average.
The recent discovery is truly extraordinary, surpassing even the largest known stellar black hole in our galaxy, Cygnus X-1, which has a mass only 21 times that of our sun. Furthermore, it is notable that this particular black hole is very close to Earth, just 2.000 light years away, and resides in the constellation Aquila. It is worth noting that this black hole is the second closest identified so far.
During the process of reviewing Gaia observations in anticipation of an upcoming data release, the team unexpectedly stumbled upon a nearby undiscovered high-mass black hole. This newly identified black hole, affectionately known as Gaia BH3 or BH3 for short, took everyone by surprise. Pasquale Panuzzo, astronomer at the Paris Observatory and member of the Gaia collaboration, affiliated with the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) of France, He expressed his astonishment at the discovery and stated that no one had foreseen the existence of such a black hole until now.
Emphasizing the rarity of such a finding in the research career, he highlighted the importance of this discovery. Astronomers have previously identified massive black holes beyond our galaxy and proposed that they originate from the implosion of stars with minimal elements heavier than hydrogen and helium. These stars, lacking metals, are believed to retain more mass throughout their lives, resulting in the formation of high-mass black holes after their demise. However, Until now there has been no concrete evidence establishing a direct connection between metal-poor stars and high-mass black holes.
Where is it located?
According to a statement from the University of Geneva (Switzerland), the enormous black hole is located within the constellation of the Eagle. This remarkable find surpasses all previous records for the size of stellar black holes observed within our galaxy, as their mass is a staggering ten times that of the Sun. Astronomers relied on data collected from ground-based observatories to validate this discovery. innovative.
One instrument that stands out particularly is the UVES (Ultraviolet and Visual Echelle Spectrograph) located in the Atacama Desert, Chile. Its purpose is to observe the precise movement of more than two billion stars across the sky in order to accurately measure their distances.
In the realm of black hole discoveries so far, the scientific community has primarily determined that they may have originated from the gravitational collapse of stars, composed primarily of hydrogen and helium with minimal heavier elements. lThe idea that these black holes could retain a lower mass is potentially indicative of the creation of larger black holes. The larger size of these deficient stars results in the creation of larger voids due to the abundance of remaining material. Furthermore, the researchers stressed that until now there was no concrete evidence establishing a direct connection between metal-poor stars and black holes.
I hope that with this information you can learn more about the discovery of the largest black hole in the Milky Way.