Hubble Detects an Isolated Stellar-Mass Black Hole Wandering the Milky Way
a day ago
- Hubble Telescope provides first direct evidence of an isolated black hole drifting in interstellar space.
- Astrometric microlensing techniques measure the black hole's mass, distance, and velocity, with estimates ranging from 1.6 to 7 solar masses.
- The discovery suggests the nearest isolated stellar-mass black hole to Earth could be as close as 80 light-years away.
- Detection of isolated black holes offers new insights into their population in the Milky Way, but remains a rare occurrence.
- Upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is expected to find many more such black holes through high-accuracy microlensing measurements.