Astronomers have made a once-in-a-lifetime discovery of a high-mass black hole named Gaia BH3, located in the Milky Way galaxy. The black hole, with a mass 33 times that of the Sun, was found by chance using data collected by the European Space Agency’s Gaia mission. The discovery marks the first time that an inactive black hole has been detected in the Milky Way.
Gaia BH3 was identified using Gaia’s telescope, which allowed astronomers to pinpoint the position of stars in the sky and measure the mass of the invisible companion of one of them. Further observations from ground-based telescopes confirmed that it was indeed a black hole with a mass far greater than other stellar black holes in our galaxy.
The discovery of Gaia BH3 was unexpected, as it was previously unknown that such a high-mass black hole was nearby and undetected. This finding was described as “a game changer” by Pasquale Panuzzo, an astronomer from the National Centre for Scientific Research.
Stellar black holes are formed from the collapse of massive stars at the end of their lives and are smaller than supermassive black holes. The discovery of Gaia BH3 marks an important milestone in our understanding of these mysterious objects and their role in shaping galaxies.
Gaia has been in operation for 10 years now, producing a 3D map of over 1.8 billion stars in our galaxy, including dormant ones like Gaia BH1 and Gaia BH2, which were also discovered by this mission. Its discoveries have shed light on previously unknown aspects of our universe and will continue to do so for many years to come.
Overall, this discovery is an important milestone not only for astronomy but for humanity as well, as it shows us how much there is still to learn about our own universe and how much we can achieve through scientific exploration and research.
