Scientists have discovered the closest black hole to Earth, located just 1,000 light-years away.
May 6 (UPI) — Scientists have discovered the closest black hole to Earth, located just 1,000 light-years away.
Astronomers were able to pinpoint the black hole by tracking the trajectories of its two companion stars using a 2.2-meter telescope in Chile, managed by the European Southern Observatory and the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy.
« We were totally surprised when we realized that this is the first stellar system with a black hole that can be seen with the unaided eye, » Petr Hadrava, an astronomer at the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic in Prague, said in a news release.
The newly discovered black hole is part of the star system that forms the constellation Telescopium.
