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Astronomers from the European Southern Observatory (ESO) claim to have spotted the closest known black hole to Earth.
The black hole is only 1,000 light-years from Earth — so close, the system it’s in can be seen in the southern hemisphere’s night sky with the naked eye, according to the researchers.
“We were totally surprised when we realized that this is the first stellar system with a black hole that can be seen with the unaided eye,” Petr Hadrava, scientist at the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic in Prague and co-author of the paper published in Astronomy & Astrophysics today.
The black hole was relatively difficult to spot because it’s relatively dark. Black holes tend to flare up as they’re feeding on the matter of companion stars, giving away their location. But this particular hole wasn’t exhibiting that behavior.