Black Holes and Their Types-
A black hole is an area of such immense gravity that nothing (not even light) can escape from it.
There are three types of black holes- stellar-mass, supermassive and intermediate-mass.
Stellar-Mass black hole: It is created when a massive star collapses under its own gravity. These black holes typically have ranging from about 5 to several tens of times the mass of the Sun.
Supermassive black hole: A supermassive black hole (SMBH) is the largest type of black hole, boasting a mass that is hundreds of thousands to billions of times greater than that of the Sun.
Intermediate-mass black hole: Intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) are black holes whose mass ranges between 50 and 50,000 times that of the Sun. Positioned between stellar-mass black holes and supermassive black holes, they represent a middle ground in terms of size.
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Why in the News?
Astronomers at the European Space Agency (ESA) recently stumbled upon the largest stellar black hole in the Milky Way, named BH-3. This discovery was serendipitous, occurring during routine data collection from ESA’s Gaia mission when they observed flexibility in the rotation of a star.
About ‘BH-3’ Black Hole-
- Its mass is 33 times that of the Sun.
- This black hole is very close to the Earth- at a mere 2000 light-years away.
- According to the ESA, it is the second-closest known black hole to the Earth.
- It is in the ‘Aquila constellation’.
The Way Forward-
According to scientific estimates, our galaxy may contain up to a billion stellar black holes similar to “BH-3”. The majority of stellar black holes do not have stars around them, making it difficult to identify them.
The finding of “BH-3” opens the door for more research into these mysterious celestial phenomena while also deepening our understanding of the various populations of black holes in the Milky Way.