The Closest Black Hole to Earth: New Study Reveals Surprising Distance

KOMPAS.com – A new study shows the closest black hole to Earth is only trillions of kilometers away.

The discovery of the distance between the closest black hole and Earth was obtained after a team of astronomers investigated the cosmic history of the closest star family called the Hyades cluster.

It is the closest star cluster to Earth that contains hundreds of stars with the same age, chemical composition and movement patterns.

Using data from the Gaia satellite used by the European Space Agency (ESA), the team simulated the evolution of star clusters over the last 650 million years.

They found that the best explanation for the distribution of stars in the cluster relies on the existence of at least two or three small black holes hidden in the center of the Hyades, which subtly guide the stars’ movements with their powerful gravitational influence.

“Our simulations can only match the mass and size of the Hyades simultaneously if there are multiple black holes at the center of the cluster today,” said Stefano Torniamenti, lead author of the study from the University of Padua in Italy.

Also read: How Deep is the Mariana Trench, Called the Deepest Point on Earth?

Distance to Earth’s closest black hole

Quoted from Live Science, Thursday (14/9/2023) if the simulation is correct, this hidden black hole will be the closest black hole to Earth ever detected.

The black hole is located only 150 light years (about 900 trillion miles) from Earth.

The black hole is about 10 times closer to Earth than the other closest candidate orbiting the star Gaia BH1 which is about 1500 light years away.

The black holes in the Hyades star cluster themselves are all stellar-mass black holes that are about five to 10 times the mass of the Sun.

When these near-Earth black holes are not actively feeding by pulling material from the brightly glowing accretion disk, their small size makes them almost invisible.

One way to find black holes is to measure their influence on the movement of nearby stars.

Also read: How Hot Are the Volcanic Clouds from the Mount Vesuvius Eruption?

So, in their new research, the team simulated the lifetime evolution of 724 Hyades cluster member stars over hundreds of millions of years.

The team compared their simulation results with Gaia data on the known position and speed of the Hyades star.

As a result, the team found that to reach their current state, the Hyades stars almost certainly lived under the gravitational influence of at least two stellar-mass black holes close to Earth.

Since the black hole in question is not large and does not actively consume matter, confirming its existence is complicated.

However, using a star distribution model like the one used in the research is currently the best way to find out.

Similar methods can also be used to search for potential black holes in other star clusters close to Earth.

This study of the distance to Earth’s closest black hole in the Hyades star cluster has been published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Also read: How Often Do Meteorites Fall to Earth?

Get selected news updates and breaking news every day from Kompas.com. Let’s join the Telegram Group “Kompas.com News Update”, by clicking the link https://t.me/kompascomupdate, then join. You must install the Telegram application first on your cellphone.

2023-09-16 07:30:00
#Close #Earths #Nearest #Black #Hole #Kompas.com