The Cosmic Discovery: Unveiling the Largest Stellar Black Hole in the Milky Way with Gaia’s Help

Astronomers have made a once-in-a-lifetime discovery with the identification of the largest stellar black hole discovered in the Milky Way, with a mass 33 times that of the Sun. The black hole, named Gaia BH3, was found by chance using data collected by the European Space Agency’s Gaia mission. The discovery marks the first time that an inactive black hole has been detected in the Milky Way.

Gaia is dedicated to mapping the Milky Way galaxy and is located 2,000 light years away from Earth in the Aquila constellation. Using Gaia’s telescope, astronomers were able to pinpoint the position of stars in the sky, allowing them to measure the mass of the invisible companion of the star – which turned out to be 33 times the mass of the Sun. Further observations from ground-based telescopes confirmed that Gaia BH3 was a black hole with a mass far greater than other stellar black holes in the Milky Way.

The discovery of Gaia BH3 was unexpected, as it was previously unknown that a high-mass black hole was nearby and undetected. This finding was described as a game changer by Pasquale Panuzzo, an astronomer from