{"id":21780,"date":"2020-05-06T09:00:24","date_gmt":"2020-05-06T13:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=21780"},"modified":"2020-05-05T18:55:45","modified_gmt":"2020-05-05T22:55:45","slug":"eso-black-hole-found-in-triple-star-system-just-1000-light-years-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=21780","title":{"rendered":"ESO: Black hole found in triple star system just 1000 light years away"},"content":{"rendered":"

The latest report from ESO<\/a> (European Southern Observatory):<\/p>\n

ESO Instrument Finds Closest Black Hole to Earth<\/a>
\n<\/strong>Invisible object has two companion stars visible to the naked eye<\/em><\/p>\n

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This artist\u2019s impression shows the orbits of the objects in the HR 6819 triple system. This system is made up of an inner binary with one star (orbit in blue) and a newly discovered black hole (orbit in red), as well as a third star in a wider orbit (also in blue). The team originally believed there were only two objects, the two stars, in the system. However, as they analysed their observations, they were stunned when they revealed a third, previously undiscovered body in HR 6819: a black hole, the closest ever found to Earth. The black hole is invisible, but it makes its presence known by its gravitational pull, which forces the luminous inner star into an orbit. The objects in this inner pair have roughly the same mass and circular orbits. The observations, with the FEROS spectrograph on the 2.2-metre telescope at ESO\u2019s La Silla, showed that the inner visible star orbits the black hole every 40 days, while the second star is at a large distance from this inner pair.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A team of astronomers from the European Southern Observatory (ESO) and other institutes has discovered a black hole lying just 1000 light-years from Earth. The black hole is closer to our Solar System than any other found to date and forms part of a triple system that can be seen with the naked eye. The team found evidence for the invisible object by tracking its two companion stars using the MPG\/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at ESO\u2019s La Silla Observatory in Chile. They say this system could just be the tip of the iceberg, as many more similar black holes could be found in the future.<\/p>\n

“We were totally surprised when we realised that this is the first stellar system with a black hole that can be seen with the unaided eye,\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

says Petr Hadrava, Emeritus Scientist at the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic in Prague and co-author of the research. Located in the constellation of Telescopium, the system is so close to us that its stars can be viewed from the southern hemisphere on a dark, clear night without binoculars or a telescope.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis system contains the nearest black hole to Earth that we know of,\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

says ESO scientist Thomas Rivinius, who led the study published today in Astronomy & Astrophysics.<\/p>\n