We have read about black holes. A black hole is a lot of mass squished into a very tiny volume. This makes it so dense not even light can escape its gravity.

Recently, scientists have discovered a black hole 1,000 light-years from Earth. This is the closest one to our solar system ever found. It is believed to be at least 4 times the mass of our Sun.

How did they find it?

• The black hole itself is invisible. But it has two bright companion stars, which indicated the hiding spot of the black hole.
• The stars are located in the Telescopium constellation. One can even see them with the naked eye on dark, clear nights in the southern hemisphere.
• When astronomers observed this double star system (called HR 6819), they noticed that one of the stars was completing an orbit around a hidden object every 40 Earth days. This led to the discovery of the black hole.

The observation was made using the European Southern Observatory’s La Silla Observatory in Chile.

The importance of the discovery

This discovery is very fascinating as it indicates that there could be millions of such “invisible” black holes in the universe. Now, scientists are studying another double star system called LB-1, which they think could have another silent, invisible hole.

Here is a video of the triple star system. Video credit: VideoFromSpace/Youtube

 

There are many more interesting news articles and information on space for all you kids. We have news and stories on stars, telescopes, galaxies, planets, exoplanets, black hole discoveries and much more. Keep reading our space news for children on Curious Times. And of course, keep your curiosity sky high!

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