Astronomers discover the closest known black hole to Earth

Weather of Arabia - Astronomers have discovered the closest known black hole to Earth, at a distance of 1,600 light-years.

On Friday, scientists reported that this black hole is ten times larger than the sun, and that it is three times closer than the previous record holder.

The hole was discovered by observing the movement of its companion star, which orbits the black hole at approximately the same distance as the Earth orbits the sun.

Karim El-Badri, of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, said the black hole was initially discovered using the European Space Agency's Gaia spacecraft.

El-Badri and his team followed up with the Gemini International Observatory in Hawaii to confirm their findings, which were published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

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