Scientists have discovered the closest black hole to Earth

The black hole is ten times the mass of the Sun and is about 1600 light years away.

Astronomers have discovered a new black hole very close to Earth, “just” 1600 light-years from the Blue Planet, we read in a submitted study. Royal Astronomical Society Reported by Associated Press.

Research points to a black hole ten times the size of the Sun. It can be detected by observing the motion of its “companion star” orbiting the black hole at the same distance from the Sun as Earth.

Gaia BH1

The black hole was initially detected using the European Space Agency’s Gaia satellite, Karim El-Badri of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics told The Associated Press. Karim El-Badri and his team confirmed their discovery at the Gemini Observatory in Hawaii.

At this point, researchers don’t know how a binary star system — made up of a black hole and its “companion star” — formed in the Milky Way. Christened Gaia PH1, it is located in the constellation Ophiuchus, also known as Serpentarius.