Closest black hole to Earth

The closest known black hole is Gaia BH1, located 1,560 light years away from Earth. The black hole, which has an estimated mass 9.62 times that of our own Sun, was discovered by Kareem El-Badry (USA) and his team using data from the Gaia satellite, and confirmed by studying the orbit of its stellar companion.

The black hole was not directly detected – instead, it was discovered by studying the orbit of a nearby sun-like star. This star was found to be orbiting an undetectable companion every 186 days. It was calculated that this companion had a mass 9.62 times that of the Sun, leading the team to conclude Gaia BH1 was a black hole. Gaia BH1 and its stellar companion are separated by approximately the distance between the Sun and Mars.