Gaia BH3: A Surprise Encounter with the Largest Stellar Black Hole in Our Galaxy

Astronomers have made a groundbreaking discovery of the largest stellar black hole 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.

Using Gaia’s telescope, astronomers were able to pinpoint the position of stars in the sky and measure the mass of an invisible companion star. Further observations from ground-based telescopes confirmed that Gaia BH3 was actually 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 such a high-mass black hole was nearby and undetected. This finding has been described as a once-in-a-lifetime discovery by Pasquale Panuzzo, an astronomer from the National Centre for Scientific Research.

Stellar black holes are formed from the collapse of massive stars at the end of their lives, and they are smaller than supermassive black holes. With this discovery, Gaia has marked its first time detecting an inactive black hole in the Milky Way. In addition to Gaia BH3, Gaia also identified two more inactive black holes known as Gaia BH1 and Gaia BH2.

Gaia has been in operation for over 10 years now, producing a 3D map of positions and motions of over 1.8 billion stars in our galaxy. Its discoveries have shed light on previously unknown aspects of our galaxy including dormant black holes like Gaia BH3.