Astronomers have discovered a black hole in the Milky Way near the Earth that is 33 times heavier than the Sun. It was named Gaia BH3.
It is reported by CNN.
The discovered object is located at a distance of 1,926 light-years in the Aquila constellation. It became the second closest known black hole to Earth. The closest black hole, known as Gaia BH1, is located at a distance of about 1,500 light-years and has a mass 10 times that of the Sun.
The most massive black hole in our galaxy, Sagittarius A*, is located in the center of the Milky Way. Its mass is 4 million times greater than the mass of the Sun. It is important to note that this is a supermassive black hole, not a stellar one.
Scientists have not yet solved the secret of the process of supermassive black hole formation. But according to one theory, they are formed when massive cosmic clouds collapse. Stellar black holes are formed when massive stars die. Thus, Gaia BH3, which was formed as a result of the death of a massive star, is the most powerful black hole in our galaxy.
Stellar black holes observed in the Milky Way galaxy are on average 10 times heavier than the Sun. Prior to the discovery of Gaia BH3, the largest known stellar black hole in our galaxy was Cygnus X-1, which is 21 times the mass of the Sun. Although Gaia BH3 is an exceptional find in our galaxy by astronomers' standards, its mass is similar to objects found in very distant galaxies.
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