According to a study published in the journal Nature, scientists have discovered a “black hole triple” in space for the first time.
- As per the new study , the V404 Cygni is actually part of a triple black hole system, meaning there’s two stars orbiting this stellar-mass black hole.
- The evidence showed that V404 Cygni actually hosts two stars: one already-known star orbiting very close to the black hole itself, and one newly discovered star in a 70,000 Earth year orbit—a distance approximately 100 times that of Pluto from our Sun.
- The discovery of the system, located about 8,000 light years away from Earth (one light year is the distance light travels in a year, 9.5 trillion kilometre), has raised questions about how black holes are formed.
- Situated in the constellation of Cygnus, the V404 Cygni is nine times as big as the Sun in our solar system.
- Researchers accidentally discovered the distant star while looking through a repository of astronomical observations taken by telescopes.
- A black hole is a region in space where the pull of gravity is so strong that no matter or light can escape it.
- Astronomers believe most black holes are formed after massive stars explode at the end of their lives — known as a supernova.
