Artist’s impression of the triple system with the closest black hole

Closest black hole to Earth found 'hiding in plain sight'

The massive cosmic object lurks in a star system you can see with the naked eye.

This artist’s impression shows the orbits of the objects in the HR 6819 triple system. The system is made up of an inner 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).

Illustration by ESO/L. Calçada

During winter in the Southern Hemisphere, a blue point of light in the constellation Telescopium gleams overhead. The brilliant pinprick on the sky, which looks like a bright star, is actually two stars in close orbit—accompanied by the closest known black hole to Earth.

The newly discovered black hole is about 1,011 light-years from our solar system in the star system HR 6819. Unveiled today in Astronomy & Astrophysics, the invisible object is locked in an orbit with two visible stars. It’s estimated to be about four times the mass of the sun and roughly 2,500 light-years closer than the next black hole.

“It seems like it’s been hiding in plain sight,” says astronomer Kareem El-Badry, a Ph.D. student

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