One Of The Smallest Black Holes Is One Of The Nearest To Earth
A deformed red giant revealed a near and very small black hole in the Monoceros constellation. It’s about 1,500 light-years away from us and has a mass of roughly 3 Suns.
Image by Garik Barseghyan from Pixabay
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As you most likely know, black holes are already taking the laws of physics to their edge. But when they aren’t feeding they are quite stealthy as their real size is quite small and there is close to no radiation coming out of them. That’s why it’s hard to find them even if they are relatively close.
You might have read about a discovery from May of 2020 when scientists discovered a black hole that should be one of the three objects of HR 6819 in the Telescopium constellation. This solar system is about 1,000 light-years away from us so that should be the closest known black hole. The bonus was that we can see it with the naked eye. But soon, doubts began to emerge and the majority of scientists currently think that it is only a binary star and there is no black hole there.
Luckily, we didn’t have to wait long and we have a new candidate for the closest black hole. Even though it is about a third further than the previous candidate it has its own benefits. For example, its name. As it can be found in the Monoceros (Unicorn) constellation it is called The Unicorn.
How was it found? It was quite literally conjured up from data. The situation in one particular solar system is that the simplest explanation for it is the existence of a black hole. And if the scientists are correct then The Unicorn is amazing because it is truly small. With a supposed mass of just three Suns, it is truly small for a black hole. We know of only a handful of similar black holes and this one should be roughly 1,500 light-years away from Earth.
As it tends to be with objects that cannot be seen its stellar partner helped us found it. The partner, in this case, is a red giant that was studied in detail by the KELT telescope at the Ohio State University and the American space telescope TESS. While the data from these observations are public nobody has analyzed them in a way to find The Unicorn until now.
The scientists that did this noticed that something is orbiting the red giant and is affecting its radiation. Then they noticed that this something has to be invisible and quite massive as the gravitational pull of the companion is brutally deforming the shape of the red giant so it looks more like an egg. From this and other data, the researchers came to the conclusion that the unseen partner has a mass of roughly 3 solar masses. If they are right, then we have another very light black hole that shouldn’t even exist as it goes against our theories.
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I didn't know black holes could be so small at 3 solar masses. I always though they are large masses that collapsed on itself with the intense gravity. I wonder how these smaller ones form? Also how do they detect it? is it by the effect it has on other stars nearby right?
Well, neither do the scientists know as that's the problem with it. It doesn't fit our current theories about black holes.
And yes, it was detected thanks to its effect on its stellar partner.