April 17th, In a groundbreaking discovery, the European Gaia Observatory, focused on tracking stars within the Milky Way, has detected a significant celestial event: the first observation of a massive stellar-mass black hole near Earth, at a mere distance of 2000 light-years.
Named "Gaia BH3," this black hole is now the largest stellar-mass black hole ever discovered within the Milky Way, with a mass equivalent to 33 Suns.
The Gaia Observatory identified Gaia BH3 by studying the orbital dynamics of an ancient, massive star within the constellation of Aquila, located approximately 1926 light-years away. Observations revealed an orbital wobble, indicating the presence of a companion black hole, thus allowing the team to deduce the mass and orbit of Gaia BH3.
Upon the discovery of Gaia BH3, the research team's excitement mirrored that of Neo's first encounter with the Matrix in "The Matrix," as they perceive the matrix to be a dormant population of stellar-mass black holes within the Milky Way, previously hidden from view.
However, Gaia BH33 is not the closest black hole to Earth. There is at least one more, Gaia BH1, which is only 1560 light-years away. However, it is smaller, with a mass only 9.6 times that of the Sun.
Compared to the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* at the center of the Milky Way, which is 4.3 million times the mass of the Sun, these stellar-sized black holes are mere little siblings, formed from the collapse of stars, while supermassive black holes are formed from the merger of numerous smaller black holes.
