This is a list of known black holes that are close to the Solar System.
It is thought that most black holes are solitary, but black holes in binary or larger systems are much easier to detect. [1] Solitary black holes can generally only be detected by measuring their gravitational distortion of the light from more distant objects. As of February 2022, only one isolated black hole has been confirmed, OGLE-2011-BLG-0462, around 5,200 light-years away. [2]
The nearest known black hole is Gaia BH1, which was discovered in September 2022 by a team led by Kareem El-Badry. Gaia BH1 is 1,560 light-years away from Earth in the direction of the constellation Ophiuchus. [3]
For comparison, the nearest star to the Sun is about 4.24 light years away, and the Milky Way galaxy is approximately 100,000 light years in diameter.
Distance | System | Component | Notes and additional references | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
(ly) | (kpc) | Designation | Description | Right ascension [4] (Epoch J2000.0) | Declination [4] (Epoch J2000.0) | Discovery date [5] | Designation | Stellar class | Mass (M☉) | |
1560±10 | 0.478±0.005 | Gaia BH1 (TIC 125470397) | Binary system with orbit t=185.63 d and eccentricity e=0.45 [3] | 17h 28m 41.09s | −00° 34′ 51.93″ | 2022 | A | BH | 9.78 | [3] |
B | G | 0.93 | ||||||||
1840±30 | 0.5906±0.0058 | Gaia BH3 (Gaia DR3 4318465066420528000) | Binary system with orbit t=11.6 yr | 19h 39m 18.72s | +14° 55′ 54.2″ | 2024 | A | BH | 32.70±0.82 | [6] |
B | G | 0.76±0.05 | ||||||||
3800±80 | 1.16±0.02 | Gaia BH2 (Gaia DR3 5870569352746779008) | Binary system with orbit t=1276.7 d and eccentricity e=0.518 | 13h 50m 16.728s | −59° 14′ 20.42″ | 2023 | A | BH | 8.93 | [7] [8] |
B | K III | 1.07 | ||||||||
3800+2700 −2000 | 1.18+0.82 −0.63 | Gaia18ajz | Candidate for isolated black hole detected by microlensing [9] | 18h 30m 14.460s | −08° 13′ 12.756″ | 2024 | BH | 12.0+14.9 −5.4 | Most probable solution parameters shown. Another solution has a mass of 5.6 MSol. | |
4700±800 | 1.44±0.25 | A0620-00 (V616 Mon) | Binary star system with orbit t=7.75 h | 06h 22m 44.503s [10] | −00° 20′ 44.72″ [10] | 1986 | A | BH | 11.0±1.9 | Low-mass X-ray binary |
B | K [11] | 0.5±0.3 | ||||||||
5150±590 | 1.58±0.18 | MOA-2011-BLG-191 or OGLE-2011-BLG-0462 | Isolated black hole detected by microlensing [2] | 17h 51m 40.2082s | −29° 53′ 26.50″ | 2022 | BH | 7.1±1.3 | First confirmed black hole detected via microlensing | |
5400+6900 −1900 | 1.7±1.4 | GRS 1124-683 (GU Muscae) | Binary star system with orbit t=10.38 h | 11h 26m 26.60s | −68° 40′ 32.3″ | 1991 Jan 20 | A | BH | 6.95±1.1 | |
B | K | 0.9±0.3 | ||||||||
5720±300 | 1.7±0.1 | XTE J1118+480 | 11h 18m 11s | 48° 02′ 13″ | 2000 | A | BH | 6–6.5 | ||
B | M | 0.2 | ||||||||
7300±200 | 2.25±0.08 | Cygnus X-1 (Cyg X-1) | Binary star system with orbit t=5.6 d | 19h 58m 21.676s [12] | +35° 12′ 05.78″ [12] | 1971 April–May | Cyg X-1 | BH | 15±1 | The first X-ray source widely accepted to be a black hole. |
HDE 226868 | O [13] | 30±10 | ||||||||
7800±460 | 2.39±0.14 | V404 Cygni | Binary star system with orbit t=6.5 d | 20h 24m 03.83s [14] | +33° 52′ 02.2″ [14] | 1989 May 22 | A | BH | 9 | First black hole to have an accurate parallax measurement of its distance from our solar system |
B | K [4] | 0.7 | Early K giant star | |||||||
8100±1000 | 2.49±0.30 | GRO J0422+32 | Binary star system with orbit t=5.09 h | 04h 21m 42.723s | +32° 54′ 26.94″ | 1992 Aug 5 | A | BH | 3.97±0.95 | |
B | M1 | 0.5±0.1 | ||||||||
8150 | 2.5 | MACHO-96-BLG-5 | Candidate isolated black hole detected by microlensing [15] | 18h 05m 2.50s | −27° 42′ 17″ | 2001 | BH | 5.30+1.14 −0.96 | Very strong candidate, parameters listed are of best fit | |
8800±2300 | 2.7±0.7 | GS 2000+25 | 20h 02m 50s | +25° 14′ 11″ | 1988 | A | BH | 7.5 | ||
B | M | 0.5 | ||||||||
9260+6330 −5450 | 2.84+1.94 −1.67 | Gaia18cbf | Candidate isolated mass-gap black hole detected by microlensing [16] | 16h 04m 38.862s | −41° 06′ 17.32″ | 2022 | BH | 2.65+5.09 −1.48 | Best fit. Second best fit has a mass of 1.71 MSol, which would make it a neutron star | |
11100±700 | 3.4±0.2 | Cygnus X-3 | Binary star system with orbit t=4.8 h | 20h 32m 25.766s | +40° 57′ 28.26″ | 1967 | Cyg X-3 | BH | 2.4+2.1 −1.1 [17] | |
V1521 Cyg | WN | 10.3+3.9 −2.8 [17] | ||||||||
11400 | 3.5 | MACHO-98-BLG-6 | Candidate isolated mass-gap black hole detected by microlensing [15] | 17h 57m 32.80s | −28° 42′ 45″ | 2001 | BH | 3.17+0.52 −0.48 | Very strong candidate, parameters listed are of best fit | |
11900±3600 | 3.7±1.1 | GRO J1655-40 | Binary star system with orbit t = 2.6 d | 16h 54m 00.137s | −39° 50′ 44.90″ | 1994 | A | BH | 5.31±0.07 | |
V1033 Sco | F5IV | 1.9±0.3 | ||||||||
15700 | 4.8 | MACHO-99-BLG-22 | Candidate isolated black hole detected by microlensing [18] | 18h 05m 05.28s | −28° 34′ 41.70″ | 2002 | BH | 7.5 | Very strong candidate | |
25600±600 | 7.86±0.2 | Sagittarius A* | Supermassive black hole | 17h 45m 40.0409s | −29° 0′ 28.118″ | 1974 | BH | 4154000 ± 14000 | Center of the Galaxy | |
29700±2700 | 9.1±0.8 | 4U 1543-475 | Binary star system with orbit t = 26.8 h | 15h 47m 08.277s | −47° 40′ 10.28″ | 1971 | A | BH | 9.4±2.0 | |
B | A2V | 2.7±1.0 |
A rogueplanet, also termed a free-floating planet (FFP) or an isolated planetary-mass object (iPMO), is an interstellar object of planetary mass which is not gravitationally bound to any star or brown dwarf.
HD 115404 is a binary star system located in the constellation Coma Berenices. Parallax measurements made by Hipparcos put the system at 36 light-years, or 11 parsecs, away. The combined apparent magnitude of the system is 6.52, with the magnitudes of the components being 6.66 and 9.50.
A0620-00 is a binary star system in the constellation of Monoceros, with an apparent magnitude of 11.2
EQ Pegasi is a nearby binary system of two red dwarfs. Both components are flare stars, with spectral types of M4Ve and M6Ve respectively, and a current separation between the components of 5.8 arcseconds. The system is at a distance of 20.4 light-years, and is 950 million years old. The primary star is orbited by one known exoplanet.
4U 1543-475 is a recurrent X-ray transient located in the southern constellation Lupus, the wolf. IL Lupi is its variable star designation. It has an apparent magnitude that fluctuates between 14.6 and 16.7, making it readily visible in large telescopes but not to the naked eye. The object is located relatively far at a distance of approximately 17,000 light years based on Gaia DR3 parallax measurements.
GW Orionis is a T Tauri type pre-main sequence hierarchical triple star system. It is associated with the Lambda Orionis star-forming region and has an extended circumtrinary protoplanetary disk.
HD 164509 is a binary star system in the constellation of Ophiuchus. The primary component has an orbiting exoplanet companion. This system is located at a distance of 175 light years based on parallax measurements, and is drifting further away with a radial velocity of 13.7 km/s. It has an absolute magnitude of 4.64, but at that distance the system has an apparent visual magnitude of 8.10, which is too faint to be seen with the naked eye.
GK Tauri is a young T Tauri-type pre-main sequence star in the constellation of Taurus about 421 light years away, belonging to the Taurus Molecular Cloud.
HR 3750 is a binary star system in the equatorial constellation of Hydra at a distance of 101 light years. This object is visible to the naked eye as a dim, white star with an apparent visual magnitude of 5.4. It is receding from the Earth with a heliocentric radial velocity of 57.9±0.2 km/s. This binary is unusual because its eruptions do not seem to conform to the Waldmeier effect—i.e. the strongest eruptions of HR 3750 are not the ones characterized by the fast eruption onset. Kinematically, the binary belongs to the thick disk of the Milky Way galaxy - a population of ancient, metal-poor stars.
HD 194012 is a star in the equatorial constellation Delphinus. It has an apparent magnitude of 6.15, making it visible to the naked eye under ideal conditions. The star is relatively close at a distance of only 85 light years but is receding with a heliocentric radial velocity of 4.5 km/s.
OGLE-2011-BLG-0462, also known as MOA-2011-BLG-191, is a stellar-mass black hole isolated in interstellar space. OGLE-2011-BLG-0462 lies at a distance of 1,720 parsecs in the direction of the galactic bulge in the constellation Sagittarius. The black hole has a mass of about 6.03 M☉. OGLE-2011-BLG-0462 is the first truly isolated black hole which has been confirmed.
HD 58425, also known as HR 2830, is an astrometric binary located in the northern circumpolar constellation Camelopardalis. It is faintly visible to the naked eye as an orang point of light at an apparent magnitude of 5.64. Based on parallax measurements from Gaia DR3, the system is estimated to be 470 light years away from Earth. It appears to be rapidly receding from the Sun, having a heliocentric radial velocity of 58.6 km/s. HD 58425 is listed as 54 Ursae Majoris in Johann Hevelius' catalogue, but this was dropped after the official IAU's official constellation borders were drawn.
Gaia BH1 is a binary system consisting of a G-type main-sequence star and a likely stellar-mass black hole, located about 1,560 light-years (478 pc) away from the Solar System in the constellation of Ophiuchus. As of April 2024, it is the nearest known system that astronomers are reasonably confident contains a black hole, followed by Gaia BH3, Gaia BH2 and A0620-00.
HD 26755, also known as HR 1313, is a spectroscopic binary located in the northern circumpolar constellation Camelopardalis, the giraffe. It has an apparent magnitude of 5.72, making it faintly visible to the naked eye under ideal conditions. Gaia DR3 parallax measurements place the system at a distance of 271 light years and is currently drifitng closer with a heliocentric radial velocity of −38 km/s. At its current distance, HD 26755's brightness is diminished by 0.19 magnitudes due to interstellar dust.
Gaia BH2 is a binary system consisting of a red giant and what is very likely a stellar-mass black hole. Gaia BH2 is located about 3,800 light years away in the constellation of Centaurus, making it as of 2023 the second-closest known black hole system to Earth. Gaia BH2 is the second black hole discovered from Gaia DR3 astrometric data, and Gaia BH1 and BH2 are likely the only black hole binaries which will be detected from Gaia DR3 data.