https://noirlab.edu/public/news/noirlab2227/ [matomo] Skip to main content [noirlab-ns] Public Scientists Intranet * [g] en | es * Contact * Newsletter * [ ] Open Menu * About + FAQs + Careers + Contacts & Travel o Travel to NOIRLab HQ o Travel to AURA Recinto o Travel to Hilo Base Facility o Travel to KPNO o Travel to Maunakea o Travel to Cerro Pachon o Travel to Cerro Tololo + Visits o Media Visits + Leadership + Governance + NOIRLab Scientific Staff + NOIRLab Timeline + About AURA + History of NOAO + Logo + Acronyms + Staff Prizes + Light Pollution & Satellite Constellations o Satellite Constellations o Programs o IAU Center o Important Reports + NOIRLab Environmental Sustainability Program + Broader & Social Impacts o NOIRLab and Arizona o NOIRLab and Hawai'i o NOIRLab and Chile + Library Services * Programs + Cerro Tololo o Victor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope # Dark Energy Camera (DECam) # COSMOS o SOAR Telescope o SARA Cerro Tololo Telescope o Curtis Schmidt Telescope o Andes Lidar Observatory o CTIO GONG o KMTNet 1.6-meter Telescope o Wisconsin H-Alpha Mapper o Evryscope-South Telescope o T80-South Telescope o SMARTS Telescopes # SMARTS 1.5-meter Telescope # SMARTS 1.3-meter Telescope # SMARTS 1.0-meter Telescope # SMARTS 0.9-meter Telescope o PROMPT # PROMPT-1 Telescope # PROMPT-2 Telescope # PROMPT-3 Telescope # PROMPT-5 Telescope # PROMPT-6 Telescope # PROMPT-7 Telescope o Las Cumbres Observatory # Las Cumbres Observatory 1-meter Telescope (#4) # Las Cumbres Observatory 1-meter Telescope (#5) # Las Cumbres Observatory 1-meter Telescope (#9) # Las Cumbres Observatory 0.4-meter Telescope (#9) # Las Cumbres Observatory 0.4-meter Telescope (#12) o MEarth-South Observatory # MEarth-South Observatory 0.4-meter Telescope (#1) # MEarth-South Observatory 0.4-meter Telescope (#2) # MEarth-South Observatory 0.4-meter Telescope (#3) # MEarth-South Observatory 0.4-meter Telescope (#4) # MEarth-South Observatory 0.4-meter Telescope (#5) # MEarth-South Observatory 0.4-meter Telescope (#6) # MEarth-South Observatory 0.4-meter Telescope (#7) # MEarth-South Observatory 0.4-meter Telescope (#8) o Thai Southern Hemisphere Telescope o US Naval Observatory Deep South Telescope o DIMM2 Seeing Monitor o DIMM1 Seeing Monitor o SSI Airglow o RASICAM o ASAS-SN 2 o ASAS-SN 5 o CAMS Chile o MicroObservatory Donald o aTmCam o UBC Southern Observatory + Community Science & Data Center + Gemini Observatory o Gemini North o Gemini South # GHOST # GeMS # Zorro o DIMM3 Seeing Monitor + Kitt Peak National Observatory o Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope o WIYN 3.5-meter Telescope o The Hiltner 2.4-meter Telescope o UArizona Bok 2.3-meter Telescope o KPNO 2.1-meter Telescope o WIYN 0.9-meter Telescope o McGraw-Hill 1.3-meter Telescope o UArizona SuperLotis Telescope o SARA Kitt Peak Telescope o Burrell Schmidt Telescope o Robotically Controlled Telescope o UArizona 12-meter Telescope o Very Long Baseline Array Dish o McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope o UArizona 0.9-meter Spacewatch Telescope o UArizona 1.8-meter Spacewatch Telescope o 0.9-meter Coude Feed Telescope o KPNO DIMM o NEID Solar Telescope o Visitor Center 0.5-meter Telescope o Solar and Observing Remote Imaging Observatory o Visitor Center Levine 0.4-meter Telescope o Visitor Center Roll Off Roof Observatory + Vera C. Rubin Observatory o Simonyi Survey Telescope o Rubin Auxiliary Telescope (AuxTel) o Rubin Seeing Monitor + Telescopes * Projects + US ELT Program + DESI + GEMMA + NEID + DES + AEON + ANTARES + Astro Data Archive + Astro Data Lab * Images + View All + Advanced Image Search + Categories o 360 Panorama o Arizona o Buildings o Cerro Tololo o Chile o Community Science & Data Center o Cosmology o Exoplanets o Fulldome o Galaxies o Galaxy Clusters o Gemini Observatory o Hawai'i o Illustrations o Kitt Peak National Observatory o National Solar Observatory o Nebulae o People and Events o Quasars and Black Holes o Solar System o Star Clusters o Stars o Vera C. Rubin Observatory + Images of the Week o 2022 o 2021 o 2020 o 2019 + Top 100 Images + Image Comparisons + Zoomable Images + Wallpapers + Image Formats + Usage of NOIRLab images and videos * Videos + View All + Advanced Video Search + Categories o Buildings o Cerro Tololo o Community Science & Data Center o Cosmology o Exoplanets o Fulldome o Galaxies o Galaxy Clusters o Gemini Observatory o Illustrations o Kitt Peak National Observatory o Nebulae o People and Events o Quasars and Black Holes o Solar System o Star Clusters o Stars o Vera C. Rubin Observatory o Video News Release o Virtual Reality + Video Formats + Usage of NOIRLab images and videos * News + Press Releases o 2021-2030 # 2022 # 2021 o 2011-2020 # 2020 # 2019 # 2018 # 2017 # 2016 # 2015 # 2014 # 2013 # 2012 # 2011 o 2001-2010 # 2010 # 2009 # 2008 # 2007 # 2006 # 2005 # 2004 # 2003 # 2002 # 2001 o 1994-2000 # 2000 # 1999 # 1998 # 1997 # 1996 # 1995 # 1994 o Gemini Press Releases o NOAO Press Releases 1998-2019 o Rubin Press Releases o Advanced Press Release Search + Announcements o 2021-2030 # 2022 # 2021 o 2011-2020 # 2020 # 2019 # 2018 # 2017 # 2016 # 2015 # 2014 # 2013 # 2012 # 2011 o 2001-2010 # 2010 # 2009 # 2008 # 2007 # 2006 # 2005 # 2004 # 2003 # 2002 # 2001 o 1999-2000 # 2000 # 1999 o Gemini Announcements o NOAO Announcements o Rubin Announcements o Advanced Announcement Search + NOIRLab Stories + Social Media o Selected Social Media Posts + NOIRLab Newsletters o Subscribe to NOIRLab News o NOIRLab News + Press Room o Selected Press Clippings + New on noirlab.edu * Education + Community Engagement + Educational Materials + Educational Programs o Viaje al Universo o Project ASTRO o Journey Through the Universe # Journey Through NOIRLab o AstroDay (Chile) o NOIRLab's Color StudioLab 2022 o Teen Astronomy Cafe o ACEAP o Teen Astronomy Cafe -- To Go! + Past Educational Programs + All Educational Events + Legacy Imaging Program * Products + 3D Models + Advertisements + Applications o FITS Liberator # Download FITS Liberator # FITS Liberator News # Documentation # FITS for Education # FITS for Teachers # Example Datasets # Known issues and FAQ # Download Past Versions + Books + Brochures + Calendars + Citizen Science Programs + Electronic Card + Exhibitions + Flyers + Handouts + Logos + Maps + Merchandise + Minisites + Postcards + Planetarium Shows + Posters o Conference Posters o Electronic Posters o Printed Posters + Presentations + Stickers + Technical Documents + Periodicals o NOIRLab Mirror o Gemini Focus o NOAO Newsletters o RBSE journals + Video Conference Backgrounds + Virtual Tours * Diversity + Selected Job Openings * Events + Local Community Events + Teacher Training Events + Exhibitions + Citizen Science Events + Educational Events + Talks + Press Events + Conferences + Events Calendar Gemini Observatory noirlab2227 -- Science Release Astronomers Discover Closest Black Hole to Earth Gemini North telescope on Hawai'i reveals first dormant, stellar-mass black hole in our cosmic backyard 4 November 2022 [noirlab222] Astronomers using the International Gemini Observatory, operated by NSF's NOIRLab, have discovered the closest-known black hole to Earth. This is the first unambiguous detection of a dormant stellar-mass black hole in the Milky Way. Its close proximity to Earth, a mere 1600 light-years away, offers an intriguing target of study to advance our understanding of the evolution of binary systems. Black holes are the most extreme objects in the Universe. Supermassive versions of these unimaginably dense objects likely reside at the centers of all large galaxies. Stellar-mass black holes -- which weigh approximately five to 100 times the mass of the Sun -- are much more common, with an estimated 100 million in the Milky Way alone. Only a handful have been confirmed to date, however, and nearly all of these are 'active' - meaning they shine brightly in X-rays as they consume material from a nearby stellar companion, unlike dormant black holes which do not. Astronomers using the Gemini North telescope on Hawai'i, one of the twin telescopes of the International Gemini Observatory, operated by NSF's NOIRLab, have discovered the closest black hole to Earth, which the researchers have dubbed Gaia BH1. This dormant black hole is about 10 times more massive than the Sun and is located about 1600 light-years away in the constellation Ophiuchus, making it three times closer to Earth than the previous record holder, an X-ray binary in the constellation of Monoceros. The new discovery was made possible by making exquisite observations of the motion of the black hole's companion, a Sun-like star that orbits the black hole at about the same distance as the Earth orbits the Sun. "Take the Solar System, put a black hole where the Sun is, and the Sun where the Earth is, and you get this system," explained Kareem El-Badry, an astrophysicist at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian and the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, and the lead author of the paper describing this discovery. "While there have been many claimed detections of systems like this, almost all these discoveries have subsequently been refuted. This is the first unambiguous detection of a Sun-like star in a wide orbit around a stellar-mass black hole in our Galaxy." Though there are likely millions of stellar-mass black holes roaming the Milky Way Galaxy, those few that have been detected were uncovered by their energetic interactions with a companion star. As material from a nearby star spirals in toward the black hole, it becomes superheated and generates powerful X-rays and jets of material. If a black hole is not actively feeding (i.e., it is dormant) it simply blends in with its surroundings. "I've been searching for dormant black holes for the last four years using a wide range of datasets and methods," said El-Badry. "My previous attempts -- as well as those of others -- turned up a menagerie of binary systems that masquerade as black holes, but this is the first time the search has borne fruit." The team originally identified the system as potentially hosting a black hole by analyzing data from the European Space Agency's Gaia spacecraft. Gaia captured the minute irregularities in the star's motion caused by the gravity of an unseen massive object. To explore the system in more detail, El-Badry and his team turned to the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph instrument on Gemini North, which measured the velocity of the companion star as it orbited the black hole and provided precise measurement of its orbital period. The Gemini follow-up observations were crucial to constraining the orbital motion and hence masses of the two components in the binary system, allowing the team to identify the central body as a black hole roughly 10 times as massive as our Sun. "Our Gemini follow-up observations confirmed beyond reasonable doubt that the binary contains a normal star and at least one dormant black hole," elaborated El-Badry. "We could find no plausible astrophysical scenario that can explain the observed orbit of the system that doesn't involve at least one black hole." The team relied not only on Gemini North's superb observational capabilities but also on Gemini's ability to provide data on a tight deadline, as the team had only a short window in which to perform their follow-up observations. "When we had the first indications that the system contained a black hole, we only had one week before the two objects were at the closest separation in their orbits. Measurements at this point are essential to make accurate mass estimates in a binary system," said El-Badry. " Gemini's ability to provide observations on a short timescale was critical to the project's success. If we'd missed that narrow window, we would have had to wait another year." Astronomers' current models of the evolution of binary systems are hard-pressed to explain how the peculiar configuration of Gaia BH1 system could have arisen. Specifically, the progenitor star that later turned into the newly detected black hole would have been at least 20 times as massive as our Sun. This means it would have lived only a few million years. If both stars formed at the same time, this massive star would have quickly turned into a supergiant, puffing up and engulfing the other star before it had time to become a proper, hydrogen-burning, main-sequence star like our Sun. It is not at all clear how the solar-mass star could have survived that episode, ending up as an apparently normal star, as the observations of the black hole binary indicate. Theoretical models that do allow for survival all predict that the solar-mass star should have ended up on a much tighter orbit than what is actually observed. This could indicate that there are important gaps in our understanding of how black holes form and evolve in binary systems, and also suggests the existence of an as-yet-unexplored population of dormant black holes in binaries. "It is interesting that this system is not easily accommodated by standard binary evolution models," concluded El-Badry. "It poses many questions about how this binary system was formed, as well as how many of these dormant black holes there are out there." "As part of a network of space- and ground-based observatories, Gemini North has not only provided strong evidence for the nearest black hole to date but also the first pristine black hole system, uncluttered by the usual hot gas interacting with the black hole," said NSF Gemini Program Officer Martin Still. "While this potentially augurs future discoveries of the predicted dormant black hole population in our Galaxy, the observations also leave a mystery to be solved -- despite a shared history with its exotic neighbor, why is the companion star in this binary system so normal?" Gemini North observations were made as part of a director's discretionary time program (program id: GN-2022B-DD-202). The International Gemini Observatory is operated by a partnership of six countries, including the United States through the National Science Foundation, Canada through the National Research Council of Canada, Chile through the Agencia Nacional de Investigacion y Desarrollo, Brazil through the Ministerio da Ciencia, Tecnologia e Inovacoes, Argentina through the Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnologia e Innovacion, and Korea through the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute. These Participants and the University of Hawaii, which has regular access to Gemini, each maintain a "National Gemini Office" to support their local users. More information El-Badry, K., et al. (2022). "A Sun-like star orbiting a black hole" published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stac3140 NSF's NOIRLab (National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory), the US center for ground-based optical-infrared astronomy, operates the international Gemini Observatory (a facility of NSF, NRC-Canada, ANID-Chile, MCTIC-Brazil, MINCyT-Argentina, and KASI-Republic of Korea), Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO), Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), the Community Science and Data Center (CSDC), and Vera C. Rubin Observatory (operated in cooperation with the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory). It is managed by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) under a cooperative agreement with NSF and is headquartered in Tucson, Arizona. The astronomical community is honored to have the opportunity to conduct astronomical research on Iolkam Du'ag (Kitt Peak) in Arizona, on Maunakea in Hawai'i, and on Cerro Tololo and Cerro Pachon in Chile. We recognize and acknowledge the very significant cultural role and reverence that these sites have to the Tohono O'odham Nation, to the Native Hawaiian community, and to the local communities in Chile, respectively. Links * Research paper * Photos of Gemini North * Videos of Gemini North Contacts Kareem Al-Badry Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian Max Planck Institute for Astronomy Email: kareem.el-badry@cfa.harvard.edu Charles Blue Public Information Officer NSF's NOIRLab Tel: +1 202 236 6324 Email: charles.blue@noirlab.edu Usage of NOIRLab Images and Videos Are you a journalist? Subscribe to the NOIRLab Media Newsletter. [ ] About the Release Release No.: noirlab2227 Images Artist's impression of the closest black hole to Earth and its Sun-like companion star PR Image noirlab2227a Artist's impression of the closest black hole to Earth and its Sun-like companion star --------------------------------------------------------------------- Videos A Sun-like Star Orbiting Closest Black Hole to Earth PR Video noirlab2227a A Sun-like Star Orbiting Closest Black Hole to Earth --------------------------------------------------------------------- * [noirlab-wh] * Contacts & Travel * Privacy * Careers * Image Usage * Sitemap * Conduct NOIRLab Contact 950 N. Cherry Ave. Tucson, AZ 85719, USA Tel: +1 520 318 8000 info@noirlab.edu * [facebook] * [twitter] * [instagram] * [youtube] * [linkedin] Discovering Our Universe Together [aura-logo-] NSF's NOIRLab is the preeminent US national center for ground-based, nighttime optical and infrared astronomy. The Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. (AURA) operates these facilities and NSF's NOIRLab under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation (NSF).