Major black hole news! Earlier this week, scientists announced the discovery of the closest black hole to Earth that we've found yet!

Until now, the nearest known black hole was A0620, an object 3,000 light years away in the constellation of Monoceros the Unicorn.

However, just this week, the European Southern Observatory announced the discovery of a black hole in HR 6819, a star system more than three times closer. This black hole is only 1,000 light years away, in the faint constellation of Telescopium. This newly-discovered black hole is part of a system that contains two companion stars.

While most black holes in our galaxy have been found by the violent X-ray bursts caused as matter is pulled towards the black hole, the newly-discovered black hole is a “silent” black hole, its existence found by the motion of the nearer of the two companion stars around the black hole.

In this video, the inner of the two companion stars (marked in blue) has an orbit so shaped by its unseen black hole companion that it proved the existence of that black hole.

Also unique to this discovery: under dark skies, the two companion stars are visible to the unaided eye, another “first” in the exploration of black holes. The faint constellation of Telescopium, where the black hole is located, is below Sagittarius and is visible, under dark skies, from locations south of 33 degrees N latitude (roughly the latitude of San Diego).

The black hole’s system is called HR6819. The discovery was made by a team of ESO astronomers using the MPG/ESO 2.2 meter telescope at ESO’s LA Silla Observatory in Chile.

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