List of nearest known black holes explained
This is a list of known black holes that are close to the Solar System.
It is thought that most black holes are solitary, but black holes in binary or larger systems are much easier to detect.[1] Solitary black holes can generally only be detected by measuring their gravitational distortion of the light from more distant objects. As of February 2022, only one isolated black hole has been confirmed, OGLE-2011-BLG-0462, around 5,200 light-years away.
The nearest known black hole is Gaia BH1, which was discovered in September 2022 by a team led by Kareem El-Badry. Gaia BH1 is 1,560 light-years away from Earth in the direction of the constellation Ophiuchus.
For comparison, the nearest star to the Sun (Proxima Centauri) is about away, and the Milky Way galaxy is approximately 100,000 light years in diameter.
List
| System | Component | Notes and additional references |
|---|
| (ly) | (kpc) | Designation | width=140 | Description | Right ascension[2]
(Epoch J2000.0) | Declination
(Epoch J2000.0) | Discovery
date[3] | Designation | Stellar
class | data-sort-type="number" | Mass
(M☉) |
|---|
| | Gaia BH1 (TIC 125470397) | Binary system with orbit t=185.63 d and eccentricity e=0.45 | | | 2022 | A | BH | | |
| B | G | |
| | Gaia BH3 (Gaia DR3 4318465066420528000) | Binary system with orbit t=11.6 yr and eccentricity e=0.7291 | | | 2024 | A | BH | | [4] |
| B | G | |
| | Gaia BH2 (Gaia DR3 5870569352746779008) | Binary system with orbit t=1276.7 d and eccentricity e=0.518 | | | 2023 | A | BH | | [5] [6] |
| B | K III | |
| | Gaia18ajz | Candidate for isolated black hole detected by microlensing | | | 2024 | | BH | | Most probable solution parameters shown. Another solution has a mass of 5.6 MSol. |
| | A0620-00 (V616 Mon) | Binary star system with orbit t=7.75 h | | | 1986 | A | BH | | Low-mass X-ray binary |
| B | K | | |
| | MOA-2011-BLG-191 or OGLE-2011-BLG-0462 | Isolated black hole detected by microlensing | | | 2022 | | BH | | First confirmed black hole detected via microlensing |
| | GRS 1124-683 (GU Muscae) | Binary star system with orbit t=10.38 h | | | 1991 | A | BH | | |
| B | K | | |
| | XTE J1118+480 | | | | 2000 | A | BH | | |
| B | M | | |
| | Cygnus X-1 (Cyg X-1) | Binary star system with orbit t=5.6 d | | | 1971 April–May | Cyg X-1 | BH | | The first X-ray source widely accepted to be a black hole. |
| HDE 226868 | O | | |
| | V404 Cygni | Binary star system with orbit t=6.5 d | [7] | | 1989 May 22 | A | BH | | First black hole to have an accurate parallax measurement of its distance from our solar system |
| B | K | | Early K giant star |
| | GRO J0422+32 | Binary star system with orbit t=5.09 h | | | 1992 Aug 5 | A | BH | | |
| B | M1 | | |
| | MACHO-96-BLG-5 | Candidate isolated black hole detected by microlensing[8] | | | 2001 | | BH | | Very strong candidate, parameters listed are of best fit |
| | GS 2000+25 | | | | 1988 | A | BH | | |
| B | M | | |
| | Gaia18cbf | Candidate isolated mass-gap black hole detected by microlensing[9] | | | 2022 | | BH | | Best fit. Second best fit has a mass of 1.71 MSol, which would make it a neutron star |
| | Cygnus X-3 | Binary star system with orbit t=4.8 h | | | 1967 | Cyg X-3 | BH |
[10] | |
| V1521 Cyg | WN |
| |
| | MACHO-98-BLG-6 | Candidate isolated mass-gap black hole detected by microlensing | | | 2001 | | BH | | Very strong candidate, parameters listed are of best fit |
| | GRO J1655-40 | Binary star system with orbit t = 2.6 d | | | 1994 | A | BH | | |
| V1033 Sco | F5IV | | |
| | MACHO-99-BLG-22 | Candidate isolated black hole detected by microlensing[11] | | | 2002 | | BH | | Very strong candidate |
| | Sagittarius A* | Supermassive black hole | | | 1974 | | BH | ± | Center of the Galaxy |
| | 4U 1543-475 | Binary star system with orbit t = 26.8 h | | | 1971 | A | BH | | |
| B | A2V | | |
|
Nearest black hole record holders
This is a succession of black holes that have been known as the nearest black hole.
Date!| Distance | Name | Mass | Type | Notes | |
|---|
| 2022— | 1600ly | Gaia BH1 | 9.62solar mass | Main-sequence star with dormant compact mass binary | First dormant black hole discovered, First Sun-like star in black hole binary system discovered: First detected via positional shifts of visible companion | [12] [13] |
| 1986—2022 | 3000ly | V616 Monocerotis (A0620−00) | 5.86solar mass | Visible variable star X-ray binary system | First observed in X-rays | [14] [15] |
| 1975—1986 | 6070ly | | 14.8solar mass | X-ray binary system | First black hole discovered: first observed in 1964 in X-rays, first speculated as black hole in 1972, first confirmed black hole in 1975, accepted as a black hole by 1990 | [16] [17] [18] |
|
See also
Notes and References
- Web site: ESO Instrument Finds Closest Black Hole to Earth . . May 6, 2020.
- Web site: . . 2007-09-17 . The One Hundred Nearest Star Systems . 2007-11-06.
- Before 1900: earliest certain recorded observation. 1900–1930: first catalogued. After 1930: earliest trigonometric or spectroscopic parallax.
- Panuzzo . P. . 2024 . Discovery of a dormant 33 solar-mass black hole in pre-release Gaia astrometry . The Astrophysical Journal . 686 . L2 . 10.1051/0004-6361/202449763 . free . 2404.10486 . 2024A&A...686L...2G .
- Tanikawa . Ataru . Hattori . Kohei . Kawanaka . Norita . Kinugawa . Tomoya . Shikauchi . Minori . Tsuna . Daichi . 2023 . Search for a Black Hole Binary in Gaia DR3 Astrometric Binary Stars with Spectroscopic Data . The Astrophysical Journal . 946 . 2 . 79 . 10.3847/1538-4357/acbf36 . 2209.05632 . 2023ApJ...946...79T . free .
- El-Badry . Kareem . Rix . Hans-Walter . etal . 2302.07880 . A red giant orbiting a black hole . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society . February 2023. 521 . 3 . 4323–4348 . 10.1093/mnras/stad799 . free . 2023MNRAS.521.4323E .
- 2003yCat.2246....0C . VizieR Online Data Catalog: 2MASS All-Sky Catalog of Point Sources (Cutri+ 2003) . CDS/ADC Collection of Electronic Catalogues . II/246 . 2246 . Cutri . Roc M. . Skrutskie . Michael F. . Van Dyk . Schuyler D. . Beichman . Charles A. . Carpenter . John M. . Chester . Thomas . Cambresy . Laurent . Evans . Tracey E. . Fowler . John W. . Gizis . John E. . Howard . Elizabeth V. . Huchra . John P. . Jarrett . Thomas H. . Kopan . Eugene L. . Kirkpatrick . J. Davy . Light . Robert M. . Marsh . Kenneth A. . McCallon . Howard L. . Schneider . Stephen E. . Stiening . Rae . Sykes . Matthew J. . Weinberg . Martin D. . Wheaton . William A. . Wheelock . Sherry L. . Zacarias . N. . 2003 .
- Abdurrahman . Fatima N. . Stephens . Haynes F. . Lu . Jessica R. . 2021-05-01 . On the Possibility of Stellar Lenses in the Black Hole Candidate Microlensing Events MACHO-96-BLG-5 and MACHO-98-BLG-6 . The Astrophysical Journal . 912 . 2 . 146 . 10.3847/1538-4357/abee83 . 0004-637X. 2103.09923 . 2021ApJ...912..146A . free .
- Kruszyńska . K. . Wyrzykowski . Ł. . Rybicki . K. A. . Maskoliūnas . M. . Bachelet . E. . Rattenbury . N. . Mróz . P. . Zieliński . P. . Howil . K. . Kaczmarek . Z. . Hodgkin . S. T. . Ihanec . N. . Gezer . I. . Gromadzki . M. . Mikołajczyk . P. . 2022-06-01 . Lens parameters for Gaia18cbf - a long gravitational microlensing event in the Galactic plane . Astronomy and Astrophysics . 662 . A59 . 10.1051/0004-6361/202142602 . 0004-6361. 2111.08337 . 2022A&A...662A..59K . 244129969 .
- 2013MNRAS.429L.104Z. Cyg X-3: A low-mass black hole or a neutron star. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 429. L104–L108. Zdziarski. A. A.. Mikołajewska. J.. Belczyński. K.. 2013. 10.1093/mnrasl/sls035. free . 1208.5455.
- Mereghetti . S. . Sidoli . L. . Ponti . G. . Treves . A. . 2022-07-01 . X-Ray Observations of the Isolated Black Hole Candidate OGLE-2011-BLG-0462 and Other Collapsed Objects Discovered through Gravitational Microlensing . The Astrophysical Journal . 934 . 1 . 62 . 10.3847/1538-4357/ac7965 . free . 2206.07480 . 2022ApJ...934...62M . 0004-637X.
- News: Astronomers Discover Closest Black Hole to Earth . Nadia Whitehead . 4 November 2022 . Harvard & Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics .
- News: Dormant Stellar-Mass Black Hole Detected 1,600 Light-Years Away . Staff . 4 November 2022 . Sci-News .
- Web site: Where is the closest black hole? . 21 March 2016 . Fraser Cain . Universe Today . phys.org .
- The mass of the black hole in 1A 0620–00, revisiting the ellipsoidal light curve modelling . 16 August 2017 . Theo F. J. van Grunsven . Peter G. Jonker . Frank W. M. Verbunt . Edward L. Robinson . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society . 472 . 2 . 1907–1914 . December 2017 . 10.1093/mnras/stx2071 . free . 2017MNRAS.472.1907V . 1708.08209 .
- Cygnus X-1, Exactly . Alan MacRobert . 21 November 2011 . Sky & Telescope .
- Cygnus X-1: The black hole that started it all . Caitlyn Buongiorno . 3 March 2021 . Astronomy .
- The closest KNOWN black holes to Earth (only three have ever held the title) . Dr. Becky . Becky Smethurst . 15 August 2024 . .
