Gaia BH3: Massive Black Hole
Astronomers have discovered a massive Black Hole in our Galaxy, named “Gaia BH3”.
- It’s the 2nd-closest known Black hole to Earth. It is 33 times heavier than the sun and the most massive black hole of stellar origin in the Milky Way, surpassing Cygnus X-1.
- Stellar black holes are formed as a result of the collapse of a single star.
- Black holes are extraordinarily dense objects with gravity so strong that not even light can escape, making it difficult to spot them.
- They are formed when a massive star collapses in on itself at the end of its life, creating an incredibly dense object with a gravitational pull that is so strong that it warps space-time around it.
- Supermassive Black Hole masses ranging from millions to billions of times that of the sun, found at the centres of most galaxies including our own Milky Way galaxy.
