In an exciting discovery that upends what we know about our Milky Way Galaxy, European Space Agency astronomers (ESA) identified a huge black hole, unknown until now, at a distance of "only" 2.000 light years from Earth.
Christened "Sleeping Giant" or more officially Gaia BH3, this cosmic entity carries 33 times the mass of our Sun, making it one of the largest black holes identified within our Galaxy.
The discovery, published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, comes thanks to data collected and confirmed by ESA's Very Large Telescope (VLT) and Gaia telescopes.
First, an unusual oscillation was detected in the space, which is attributed to Gaia BH3's strong gravitational pull on a nearby companion star. Unlike active black holes that emit X-rays by consuming nearby stars, Gaia BH3 remains "dormant", producing no visible light and making it extremely difficult to detect.
While in the past black holes within the Milky Way have been up to 10 times the size of the Sun, Gaia BH3 surpasses all previous records, reaching 33 solar masses.
Additionally, Gaia BH3's location in the constellation Aquila, 2.000 light-years away, makes it the second-closest black hole to Earth, after Gaia BH1 (1.500 light-years).
The discovery of Gaia BH3 is a pivotal point in our understanding of our Milky Way and the mysterious black holes it harbors.
