Closest known black hole to Earth discovered after years-long hunt

[Kyle]

The dormant black hole is named Gaia BH1 and is located about 1,600 light-years away


Astronomers have reportedly discovered the closest-known black hole to Earth.

BH1 was located about 1,600 light-years away in the constellation Ophiuchus, making it three times nearer to Earth than the previous record holder.

The dormant black hole is about 10 times more massive than the sun, according to astronomers using the International Gemini Observatory. The observatory is operated by the National Science Foundation's NOIRLab.

In a release, NOIRLab said this marked the first unambiguous detection of a dormant stellar-mass black hole in the Milky Way.

There are an estimated 100 million stellar-mass black holes in the Milky Way alone, with nearly all of them active.

Closest known black hole to Earth discovered after years-long hunt

Astronomers have reportedly discovered the closest-known black hole to Earth. Named Gaia BH1, the dormant black hole is about 10 times more massive than the sun.

www.foxnews.com

 

[AnthonyJames]

Two different phenomena, but one is infinitely more dangerous to the earth at this particular moment.

 

[Kinnakeet]

The closet blackhole for me works in the next room

 

[LightRoasted]

For your consideration ...

They have got to be making this shiat up. A "dormant" black hole? In my logical world, an active black hole swallows up everything that gets near it. A dormant black hole is a dead and dispersed no black hole.

If it is true, and there really is such a thing as a dormant black hole, can we fly a spacecraft into to it see what it looks like inside? Because every astrophysics scientist alive would be tickled pink to find out what is inside one. Pretty sure even the movie makers would love to know.

 

[SamSpade]

For your consideration ...

They have got to be making this shiat up. A "dormant" black hole? In my logical world, an active black hole swallows up everything that gets near it. A dormant black hole is a dead and dispersed no black hole.

That was my first thought - so I looked it up. Evidently they are not eternal matter vacuums. They can have long periods of dormancy.
When they "activate", it's quite spectacular.

 

[LightRoasted]

For your consideration ...

That was my first thought - so I looked it up. Evidently they are not eternal matter vacuums. They can have long periods of dormancy. When they "activate", it's quite spectacular.

Still not sure how a dormant black hole is still a black hole at all. Then the next logical question is, how does a black hole form in the first place? And since they need mass to suck in everything, including light, where is the mass? And if it has mass, dormancy would logically say that the mass was destroyed?

I know I could research it myself, but I have a hard time believing much of astroscience. It's like they make up the probabilities and hypothesis and spin it into facts just to fit the current narrative to justify more research funding dollars. Besides, these things are thousands of light years away. The interpretation of data is subject to much guess work. It's not like we can create one here in a lab for peer review to study exactly how they work or form. Ya know?