Astronomers have found the nearest black hole to Earth / Illustrative photo: Pixabay
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Astronomers believe they have discovered a small black hole that, given the astronomical distances, is extremely close to our planet.
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About 1,500 light-years from Earth, in a Milky Way constellation known as Monoceros, is probably the closest black hole to our planet, and scientists have still been lucky enough to find it. The Ohio State University team called it the Unicorn.
“When we analyzed the data, this black hole – the Unicorn – just appeared,” says astronomer Tharindu Jayasinghe.
How was the black hole discovered?
While analyzing data from various telescope and satellite systems, astronomers saw a red giant in the constellation Monoceros, which was in its final stages of life. The speed of the star and the way it was pulled by gravity suggested that there was a small black hole orbiting around it. The size of this dark and silent companion was calculated at about 3 solar masses.
“Just as the gravity of the Moon distorts the Earth’s oceans, causing the sea level to rise and produce high tides, so the black hole distorts the star, with one axis longer than the other.” explained astronomer Todd Thompson, who helped find other small black holes in the past, according to ScienceAlert.
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