Cosmoview Episode 56: Astronomers Discover Closest Black Hole to Earth
Astronomers using the International Gemini Observatory, operated by NSF’s NOIRLab, have discovered the closest-known black hole to Earth. This is the first unambiguous detection of a dormant stellar-mass black hole in the Milky Way. Its close proximity to Earth, a mere 1600 light-years away, offers an intriguing target of study to advance our understanding of the evolution of binary systems.
Credit:Images and Videos: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/J.Pollard/J. da Silva/Spaceengine/M. Zamani/ T. Müller (MPIA), PanSTARRS DR1 (K. C. Chambers et al. 2016), ESA/Gaia/DPAC (CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO)/NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio/ Walt Feimer (HTSI)/Michael McClare (HTSI)/Dana Berry (Skyworks Digital)/ Michael McClare (HTSI), N. Bartmann
Music: Stellardrone - Airglow
About the Video
| Id: | noirlab2227b |
| Release date: | Nov. 4, 2022, 2 a.m. |
| Related releases: | noirlab2227 |
| Duration: | 01 m 24 s |
| Frame rate: | 29.97 |
