Discovering Dormant Black Holes: Gaia BH3’s Massive Presence in the Milky Way

Astronomers have recently discovered the largest stellar black hole in the Milky Way, named Gaia BH3. This black hole has a mass 33 times that of the Sun and was identified through data collected by the European Space Agency’s Gaia mission. Gaia BH3 is located 2,000 light years away from Earth in the Aquila constellation.

The discovery of Gaia BH3 was unexpected, as it was found by chance. Further observations from ground telescopes confirmed the presence of this high-mass black hole, which was previously undetected. Stellar black holes like Gaia BH3 are formed from the collapse of massive stars at the end of their life. However, unlike other active black holes that emit X-rays, Gaia BH3 is considered dormant because it is too far away from its companion star to do so.

This space mission has been operating for the past 10 years, providing valuable data about the positions and motions of over 1.8 billion stars. The discovery of Gaia BH3 adds to our understanding of black holes and their presence in our galaxy. In fact, Gaia has been instrumental in identifying other inactive black holes in the Milky Way, including Gaia BH1 and Gaia BH2. This new information will help astronomers better understand these mysterious celestial objects and their impact on our galaxy’s dynamics.