{"id":40034,"date":"2023-01-06T13:52:30","date_gmt":"2023-01-06T13:52:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skyatnightmagazine.com\/?p=114930"},"modified":"2023-01-06T14:32:30","modified_gmt":"2023-01-06T14:32:30","slug":"astronomers-discover-the-closest-known-black-hole-to-earth","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/rss_feed\/astronomers-discover-the-closest-known-black-hole-to-earth\/","title":{"rendered":"Astronomers discover the closest known black hole to Earth"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"rssexcerpt\"><\/p><p class=\"rssauthor\">By Ezzy Pearson\n                \t\t<\/p><p class=\"rssbyline\">Published: Friday, 06 January 2023 at 12:00 am<\/p><hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/><?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\" standalone=\"yes\"?>\n<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><body> <p class=\"&quot;p1&quot;\">The closest black hole to Earth is a stellar mass black hole just 1,600 lightyears away called Gaia BH1.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"&quot;https:\/\/www.skyatnightmagazine.com\/space-science\/black-hole\/&quot;\">black hole<\/a>\u00a0has set a new record for the closest known black hole to Earth.<\/p>\n<p class=\"&quot;p1&quot;\">Its presence was revealed after <a href=\"&quot;https:\/\/www.skyatnightmagazine.com\/space-missions\/esas-gaia-mapping-the-milky-way\/&quot;\">ESA\u2019s Gaia space telescope<\/a> observed the unusual motion of its stellar companion, a Sun-like star.<\/p>\n<p class=\"&quot;p1&quot;\">Closer inspection of the star\u2019s motion revealed it was orbiting around an unseen black hole with a mass 10 times that of our Sun.<\/p>\n<ul><li><a href=\"&quot;https:\/\/www.skyatnightmagazine.com\/space-science\/questions-about-black-holes-answered\/&quot;\"><em><strong>Questions about black holes \u2013 answered!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul><div class=\"&quot;image-handler__container\" image-handler__container--full=\"\" style=\"&quot;padding-bottom:\" calc=\"\"> <picture><source media=\"&quot;(max-width:\" data-srcset=\"&quot;https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/25\/2019\/04\/Gaia_mapping_the_stars_of_the_Milky_Way-71ee772.jpg?webp=true&amp;quality=90&amp;resize=300%2C169,\" https:=\"\" type=\"&quot;image\/webp&quot;\"><source media=\"&quot;(max-width:\" data-srcset=\"&quot;https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/25\/2019\/04\/Gaia_mapping_the_stars_of_the_Milky_Way-71ee772.jpg?quality=90&amp;resize=300%2C169,\" https:=\"\" type=\"&quot;image\/jpeg&quot;\"><source media=\"&quot;(max-width:\" data-srcset=\"&quot;https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/25\/2019\/04\/Gaia_mapping_the_stars_of_the_Milky_Way-71ee772.jpg?webp=true&amp;quality=90&amp;resize=355%2C200,\" https:=\"\" type=\"&quot;image\/webp&quot;\"><source media=\"&quot;(max-width:\" data-srcset=\"&quot;https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/25\/2019\/04\/Gaia_mapping_the_stars_of_the_Milky_Way-71ee772.jpg?quality=90&amp;resize=355%2C200,\" https:=\"\" type=\"&quot;image\/jpeg&quot;\"><source media=\"&quot;(max-width:\" data-srcset=\"&quot;https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/25\/2019\/04\/Gaia_mapping_the_stars_of_the_Milky_Way-71ee772.jpg?webp=true&amp;quality=90&amp;resize=405%2C228,\" https:=\"\" type=\"&quot;image\/webp&quot;\"><source media=\"&quot;(max-width:\" data-srcset=\"&quot;https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/25\/2019\/04\/Gaia_mapping_the_stars_of_the_Milky_Way-71ee772.jpg?quality=90&amp;resize=405%2C228,\" https:=\"\" type=\"&quot;image\/jpeg&quot;\"><source media=\"&quot;(max-width:\" data-srcset=\"&quot;https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/25\/2019\/04\/Gaia_mapping_the_stars_of_the_Milky_Way-71ee772.jpg?webp=true&amp;quality=90&amp;resize=554%2C312&quot;\" type=\"&quot;image\/webp&quot;\"><source media=\"&quot;(max-width:\" data-srcset=\"&quot;https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/25\/2019\/04\/Gaia_mapping_the_stars_of_the_Milky_Way-71ee772.jpg?quality=90&amp;resize=554%2C312&quot;\" type=\"&quot;image\/jpeg&quot;\"><source media=\"&quot;(min-width:\" data-srcset=\"&quot;https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/25\/2019\/04\/Gaia_mapping_the_stars_of_the_Milky_Way-71ee772.jpg?webp=true&amp;quality=90&amp;resize=620%2C350&quot;\" type=\"&quot;image\/webp&quot;\"><source media=\"&quot;(min-width:\" data-srcset=\"&quot;https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/25\/2019\/04\/Gaia_mapping_the_stars_of_the_Milky_Way-71ee772.jpg?quality=90&amp;resize=620%2C350&quot;\" type=\"&quot;image\/jpeg&quot;\"><source media=\"&quot;(min-width:\" data-srcset=\"&quot;https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/25\/2019\/04\/Gaia_mapping_the_stars_of_the_Milky_Way-71ee772.jpg?webp=true&amp;quality=90&amp;resize=408%2C230,\" https:=\"\" type=\"&quot;image\/webp&quot;\"><source media=\"&quot;(min-width:\" data-srcset=\"&quot;https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/25\/2019\/04\/Gaia_mapping_the_stars_of_the_Milky_Way-71ee772.jpg?quality=90&amp;resize=408%2C230,\" https:=\"\" type=\"&quot;image\/jpeg&quot;\"><source media=\"&quot;(min-width:\" data-srcset=\"&quot;https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/25\/2019\/04\/Gaia_mapping_the_stars_of_the_Milky_Way-71ee772.jpg?webp=true&amp;quality=90&amp;resize=556%2C313&quot;\" type=\"&quot;image\/webp&quot;\"><source media=\"&quot;(min-width:\" data-srcset=\"&quot;https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/25\/2019\/04\/Gaia_mapping_the_stars_of_the_Milky_Way-71ee772.jpg?quality=90&amp;resize=556%2C313&quot;\" type=\"&quot;image\/jpeg&quot;\"><img class=\"&quot;wp-image-27400\" align=\"\" size-full=\"\" image-handler__image=\"\" image-handler__image--full=\"\" no-wrap=\"\" js-lazyload=\"\" data-src=\"&quot;https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/25\/2019\/04\/Gaia_mapping_the_stars_of_the_Milky_Way-71ee772.jpg?quality=90&amp;resize=620%2C350&quot;\" width=\"&quot;940&quot;\" height=\"&quot;530&quot;\" alt=\"&quot;&quot;\" title=\"&quot;&quot;\"\/><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div><div class=\"&quot;caption-hold&quot;\"><figcaption class=\"&quot;wp-caption-text&quot;\"><span class=\"&quot;caption-copy&quot;\"><i class=\"&quot;icon-arrow\" icon-camera-circle=\"\"\/> An artist\u2019s impression of the Gaia spacecraft mapping the Milky Way. Credit: ESA\/ATG medialab; background: ESO\/S. Brunier<\/span><\/figcaption><span class=\"&quot;im-image-caption&quot;\"\/><\/div>\n<p class=\"&quot;p2&quot;\">\u201cThis is the first unambiguous detection of a Sun-like star in a wide orbit around a stellar-mass black hole in our Galaxy,\u201d says Kareen El-Badry from the Center<br\/>\nfor Astrophysics, Harvard and Smithsonian, who led the study.<\/p>\n<p class=\"&quot;p2&quot;\">Stellar pair Gaia BH1 are about as far apart as Earth and the Sun, leaving astronomers struggling to explain how the star managed to survive the hypergiant phase its companion must have gone through before collapsing into a black hole.<\/p>\n<p class=\"&quot;p2&quot;\"><span class=\"&quot;s1&quot;\">\u201cIt is interesting that this system is not easily accommodated by standard binary evolution models,\u201d says El-Badry.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"&quot;p2&quot;\"><span class=\"&quot;s1&quot;\">\u201cIt poses many questions about how this binary system was formed.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"&quot;p1&quot;\"><a href=\"\/\/www.gaia.ac.uk&quot;\" target=\"&quot;_blank&quot;\" rel=\"&quot;noopener&quot; noopener noreferrer\">www.gaia.ac.uk<span class=\"&quot;Apple-converted-space&quot;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Ezzy Pearson Published: Friday, 06 January 2023 at 12:00 am The closest black hole to Earth is a stellar mass black hole just 1,600 lightyears away called Gaia BH1. The black hole\u00a0has set a new record for the closest known black hole to Earth. Its presence was revealed after ESA\u2019s Gaia space telescope observed [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":40035,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/01\/astronomers-discover-the-closest-known-black-hole-to-earth.jpg",1280,720,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/01\/astronomers-discover-the-closest-known-black-hole-to-earth-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/01\/astronomers-discover-the-closest-known-black-hole-to-earth-300x169.jpg",300,169,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/01\/astronomers-discover-the-closest-known-black-hole-to-earth-768x432.jpg",768,432,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/01\/astronomers-discover-the-closest-known-black-hole-to-earth-1024x576.jpg",800,450,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/01\/astronomers-discover-the-closest-known-black-hole-to-earth.jpg",1280,720,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/01\/astronomers-discover-the-closest-known-black-hole-to-earth.jpg",1280,720,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Ezzy Pearson Published: Friday, 06 January 2023 at 12:00 am The closest black hole to Earth is a stellar mass black hole just 1,600 lightyears away called Gaia BH1. The black hole\u00a0has set a new record for the closest known black hole to Earth. Its presence was revealed after ESA\u2019s Gaia space telescope observed&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/40034"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}