Zitat Press Release Most massive stellar black hole in our galaxy found
16 April 2024
Astronomers have identified the most massive stellar black hole yet discovered in the Milky Way galaxy. This black hole was spotted in data from the European Space Agency’s Gaia mission because it imposes an odd ‘wobbling’ motion on the companion star orbiting it. Data from the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT) and other ground-based observatories were used to verify the mass of the black hole, putting it at an impressive 33 times that of the Sun.
Stellar black holes are formed from the collapse of massive stars and the ones previously identified in the Milky Way are on average about 10 times as massive as the Sun. Even the next most massive stellar black hole known in our galaxy, Cygnus X-1, only reaches 21 solar masses, making this new 33-solar-mass observation exceptional [1].
Remarkably, this black hole is also extremely close to us — at a mere 2000 light-years away in the constellation Aquila, it is the second-closest known black hole to Earth. Dubbed Gaia BH3 or BH3 for short, it was found while the team were reviewing Gaia observations in preparation for an upcoming data release. “No one was expecting to find a high-mass black hole lurking nearby, undetected so far,” says Gaia collaboration member Pasquale Panuzzo, an astronomer from the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) at the Observatoire de Paris - PSL, France. "This is the kind of discovery you make once in your research life."
To confirm their discovery, the Gaia collaboration used data from ground-based observatories, including from the Ultraviolet and Visual Echelle Spectrograph (UVES) instrument on ESO’s VLT, located in Chile’s Atacama Desert [2]. These observations revealed key properties of the companion star, which, together with Gaia data, allowed astronomers to precisely measure the mass of BH3.
Astronomers have found similarly massive black holes outside our galaxy (using a different detection method), and have theorised that they may form from the collapse of stars with very few elements heavier than hydrogen and helium in their chemical composition. These so-called metal-poor stars are thought to lose less mass over their lifetimes and hence have more material left over to produce high-mass black holes after their death. But evidence directly linking metal-poor stars to high-mass black holes has been lacking until now.
Stars in pairs tend to have similar compositions, meaning that BH3’s companion holds important clues about the star that collapsed to form this exceptional black hole. UVES data showed that the companion was a very metal-poor star, indicating that the star that collapsed to form BH3 was also metal-poor — just as predicted.
The research study, led by Panuzzo, is published today in Astronomy & Astrophysics. “We took the exceptional step of publishing this paper based on preliminary data ahead of the forthcoming Gaia release because of the unique nature of the discovery,” says co-author Elisabetta Caffau, also a Gaia collaboration member and CNRS scientist from the Observatoire de Paris - PSL. Making the data available early will let other astronomers start studying this black hole right now, without waiting for the full data release, planned for late 2025 at the earliest.
[1] This is not the most massive black hole in our galaxy — that title belongs to Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the Milky Way’s centre, which has about four million times the mass of the Sun. But Gaia BH3 is the most massive black hole known in the Milky Way that formed from the collapse of a star.
This research was presented in a paper entitled “Discovery of a dormant 33 solar-mass black hole in pre-release Gaia astrometry” to appear in Astronomy & Astrophysics (https://aanda.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202449763).
The paper, by P. Panuzzo et al., is authored by the Gaia collaboration, which involves over 300 authors from around the world, including Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Chile and Australia.
Zitat Section Letters to the Editor DOI https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202449763 Discovery of a dormant 33 solar-mass black hole in pre-release Gaia astrometry Gaia Collaboration: P. Panuzzo, T. Mazeh, F. Arenou, B. Holl, E. Caffau, A. Jorissen, C. Babusiaux, P. Gavras, J. Sahlmann, U. Bastian, Ł. Wyrzykowski, L. Eyer, N. Leclerc, N. Bauchet, A. Bombrun, N. Mowlavi, G.M. Seabroke, D. Teyssier, E. Balbinot, A. Helmi, A.G.A. Brown, A. Vallenari, T. Prusti, J.H.J. de Bruijne, A. Barbier, M. Biermann, O.L. Creevey, C. Ducourant, D.W. Evans, R. Guerra, A. Hutton, C. Jordi, S.A. Klioner, U. Lammers, L. Lindegren, X. Luri, F. Mignard, C. Nicolas, S. Randich, P. Sartoretti, R. Smiljanic, P. Tanga, N.A. Walton, C. Aerts, C.A.L. Bailer-Jones, M. Cropper, R. Drimmel, F. Jansen, D. Katz, M.G. Lattanzi, C. Soubiran, F. Thévenin , F. van Leeuwen, R. Andrae, M. Audard, J. Bakker, R. Blomme, J. Castañeda , F. De Angeli, C. Fabricius, M. Fouesneau, Y. Frémat , L. Galluccio, A. Guerrier, U. Heiter, E. Masana, R. Messineo, K. Nienartowicz, F. Pailler, F. Riclet, W. Roux, R. Sordo, G. Gracia-Abril, J. Portell, M. Altmann, K. Benson, J. Berthier, P.W. Burgess, D. Busonero, G. Busso, C. Cacciari, H. Cánovas, J.M. Carrasco, B. Carry, A. Cellino, N. Cheek, G. Clementini, Y. Damerdji, M. Davidson, P. de Teodoro, L. Delchambre, A. Dell Oro, E. Fraile Garcia, D. Garabato, P. García-Lario, R. Haigron, N.C. Hambly, D.L. Harrison, D. Hatzidimitriou, J. Hernández, D. Hestroffer, S.T. Hodgkin, S. Jamal, G. Jevardat de Fombelle, S. Jordan, A. Krone-Martins, A.C. Lanzafame, W. Löffler, A. Lorca, O. Marchal, P.M. Marrese, A. Moitinho, K. Muinonen, M. Nuñez Campos, I. Oreshina-Slezak, P. Osborne, E. Pancino, T. Pauwels, A. Recio-Blanco, M. Riello, L. Rimoldini, A.C. Robin, T. Roegiers, L.M. Sarro, M. Schultheis, M. Smith, A. Sozzetti, E. Utrilla, M. van Leeuwen, K. Weingrill, U. Abbas, P. Ábrahám, A. Abreu Aramburu, S. Ahmed, G. Altavilla, M.A. Álvarez, F. Anders, R.I. Anderson, E. Anglada Varela, T. Antoja, S. Baig, D. Baines, S.G. Baker, L. Balaguer-Núñez, Z. Balog, C. Barache, M. Barros, M.A. Barstow, S. Bartolomé, D. Bashi, J.-L. Bassilana, N. Baudeau, U. Becciani, L.R. Bedin, I. Bellas-Velidis, M. Bellazzini, W. Beordo, M. Bernet, C. Bertolotto, S. Bertone, L. Bianchi, A. Binnenfeld, S. Blanco-Cuaresma, J. Bland-Hawthorn, A. Blazere, T. Boch, D. Bossini, S. Bouquillon, A. Bragaglia, J. Braine, E. Bratsolis, E. Breedt, A. Bressan, N. Brouillet, E. Brugaletta, B. Bucciarelli, A.G. Butkevich, R. Buzzi, A. Camut, R. Cancelliere, T. Cantat-Gaudin, D. Capilla Guilarte, R. Carballo, T. Carlucci, M.I. Carnerero, J. Carretero, S. Carton, L. Casamiquela, A. Casey, M. Castellani, A. Castro-Ginard, L. Ceraj, V. Cesare, P. Charlot, C. Chaudet, L. Chemin, A. Chiavassa, N. Chornay, D. Chosson, W.J. Cooper, T. Cornez, S. Cowell, M. Crosta, C. Crowley, M. Cruz Reyes, C. Dafonte, M. Dal Ponte, M. David, P. de Laverny, F. De Luise, R. De March, A. de Torres, E.F. del Peloso, M. Delbo, A. Delgado, J.-B. Delisle, C. Demouchy, E. Denis, T.E. Dharmawardena, F. Di Giacomo, C. Diener, E. Distefano, C. Dolding, K. Dsilva, H. Enke, C. Fabre, M. Fabrizio, S. Faigler, M. Fatović, G. Fedorets, J. Fernández-Hernández, P. Fernique, F. Figueras, C. Fouron, F. Fragkoudi, M. Gai, M. Galinier, A. Garcia-Serrano, M. García-Torres, A. Garofalo, E. Gerlach, R. Geyer, P. Giacobbe, G. Gilmore, S. Girona, G. Giuffrida, A. Gomboc, A. Gomez, I. González-Santamaría, E. Gosset, M. Granvik, V. Gregori Barrera, R. Gutiérrez-Sánchez, M. Haywood, A. Helmer, S.L. Hidalgo, T. Hilger, D. Hobbs, C. Hottier, H.E. Huckle, Ó. Jiménez-Arranz, J. Juaristi Campillo, Z. Kaczmarek, P. Kervella, S. Khanna, M. Kontizas, G. Kordopatis, A.J. Korn, Á Kóspál, Z. Kostrzewa-Rutkowska, K. Kruszyńska, M. Kun, S. Lambert, A.F. Lanza, Y. Lebreton, T. Lebzelter, S. Leccia, G. Lecoutre, S. Liao, L. Liberato, E. Licata, E. Livanou, A. Lobel, J. López-Miralles, C. Loup, M. Madarász, L. Mahy, R.G. Mann, M. Manteiga, C.P. Marcellino, J.M. Marchant, M. Marconi, D. Marín Pina, S. Marinoni, D.J. Marshall, J. Martín Lozano, L. Martin Polo, J.M. Martín-Fleitas, G. Marton, D. Mascarenhas, A. Masip, A. Mastrobuono-Battisti, P.J. McMillan, J. Meichsner, J. Merc, S. Messina, N.R. Millar, A. Mints, D. Mohamed, D. Molina, R. Molinaro, M. Monguió, P. Montegriffo, L. Monti, A. Mora, R. Morbidelli, D. Morris, R. Mudimadugula, T. Muraveva, I. Musella, Z. Nagy, N. Nardetto, C. Navarrete, S. Oh, C. Ordenovic, O. Orenstein, C. Pagani, I. Pagano, L. Palaversa, P.A. Palicio, L. Pallas-Quintela, M. Pawlak, A. Penttilä, P. Pesciullesi, M. Pinamonti, E. Plachy, L. Planquart, G. Plum, E. Poggio, D. Pourbaix, A.M. Price-Whelan, L. Pulone, V. Rabin, M. Rainer, C.M. Raiteri, P. Ramos, M. Ramos-Lerate, M. Ratajczak, P. Re Fiorentin, S. Regibo, C. Reylé, V. Ripepi, A. Riva, H.-W. Rix, G. Rixon, G. Robert, N. Robichon, C. Robin, M. Romero-Gómez, N. Rowell, D. Ruz Mieres, K.A. Rybicki, G. Sadowski, A. Sagristà Sellés, N. Sanna, R. Santoveña, M. Sarasso, M.H. Sarmiento, C. Sarrate Riera, E. Sciacca, D. Ségransan, M. Semczuk, S. Shahaf, A. Siebert, E. Slezak, R.L. Smart, O.N. Snaith, E. Solano, F. Solitro, D. Souami, J. Souchay, E. Spitoni, F. Spoto, L.A. Squillante, I.A. Steele, H. Steidelmüller, J. Surdej, L. Szabados, F. Taris, M.B. Taylor, R. Teixeira, T. Tepper-Garcia, W. Thuillot, L. Tolomei, N. Tonello, F. Torra, G. Torralba Elipe, M. Trabucchi, E. Trentin, M. Tsantaki, C. Turon, A. Ulla, N. Unger, I. Valtchanov, O. Vanel, A. Vecchiato, D. Vicente, E. Villar, M. Weiler, H. Zhao, J. Zorec, S. Zucker, A. Župić , T. Zwitter A&A, Forthcoming article Received: 27 February 2024 / Accepted: 30 March 2024 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202449763
Zitat Among the 1.5 million orbital solutions, GaiaBH3 yielded the largest mass function, 32.03±0.64M⊙, with a significance(a0/σa0) of 48.1; no other solution has a mass function larger than 20M⊙. In Fig. 2, we show the orbital solution and the residuals, from which the strength of the astrometric signal of the orbit, along with the the robustness and quality of the solution can be appreciated. The Campbell orbital elements of the source are reported in the central column of Table 2. We note that the NSS pipeline used in this preliminary run produces Thiele-Innes ele-ments; the Campbell elements and their uncertainties were com-puted using the equations in Appendix A of Halbwachs et al.(2023). The astrometric mass function value and its uncertainty were computed using Monte Carlo resampling of the Thiele-Innes elements, the parallax and the period, in order to take into account the correlations between parameters; in particular, between a0 and the period. To make sure this procedure wouldyield reliable results, we first checked that the correlations are sufficiently well behaved to allow for Monte Carlo resampling, following Section 6.1 of Babusiaux et al. (2023).
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