Story at a glance
- The black hole is 1,500 light years from Earth and is still inside the Milky Way galaxy.
- It has a mass three times that of the sun, which is tiny for black holes.
- Scientists were able to discover the Unicorn by observing a red giant star the black hole is connected to by gravity.
Astronomers say they have discovered one of the smallest black holes and the closest one to Earth that’s ever been observed.
Researchers from Ohio State University dubbed the black hole “the Unicorn,” due to its uniquely low mass and the fact that it resides in the Unicorn constellation Monoceros, according to a news release.
America is changing faster than ever! Add Changing America to your Facebook or Twitter feed to stay on top of the news.
The study was published Wednesday in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
“When we looked at the data, this black hole — the Unicorn — just popped out,” Tharindu Jayasinghe, a doctoral study in astronomy at The Ohio State University, said.
While The Unicorn is three times the mass of the sun, its size is considered tiny for a black holes, which are incredibly dense objects in space that possess gravitational pulls so strong light cannot escape.
The black hole is 1,500 light years from Earth and is still inside the Milky Way galaxy.
Black holes can be difficult for astronomers to detect as they emit no light. But scientists were able to discover the Unicorn by observing a red giant star the black hole is connected to by gravity.
Researchers said something they couldn’t see was orbiting and tugging at the star, causing the light from the red giant to change in intensity and a change in its shape, an effect called tidal distortion.
“Just as the moon’s gravity distorts the Earth’s oceans, causing the seas to bulge toward and away from the moon, producing high tides, so does the black hole distort the star into a football-like shape with one axis longer than the other,” Todd Thompson, chair of Ohio State’s astronomy department, said.
“The simplest explanation is that it’s a black hole — and in this case, the simplest explanation is the most likely one,” he added.
READ MORE STORIES FROM CHANGING AMERICA
ELON MUSK’S SPACEX LAUNCHES NASA CREW-2 INTO ORBIT
FOR ITS NEXT TRICK, NASA’S HELICOPTER FLEW SIDEWAYS ON MARS
NASA’S MARS LANDER IS IN EMERGENCY HIBERNATION — AND IT COULD DIE
NASA UNVEILS SPECTACULAR PHOTO OF BLUE DUNES ON MARS
NASA SAYS SPECTACULAR PHOTO OF MARS RAINBOW ISN’T REAL
changing america copyright.
