Earth’s Nearest Black Hole Just Found

Don't worry we won't be falling in it, but knowing how this year has gone who knows. According to CBC.com, astronomers believe they have found the closest black hole to our solar system and to Earth as the black home is just 1,000 light years away. This sounds very far away but in astronomical terms this black hole is right in our neighborhood.

The black hole, which has a name as it is called HR 6819, is pretty big as it is 4 times the size of the sun. The discovery of this black hole was by accident, astronomer Stan Stefl first found HR 6819 in 2004 and thought it was a star system. Stefl started looking into it more, which can take years, and unfortunately he didn't finish his work as he would die in a car accident 5 years ago. HR 6819 was put on hold as Stefl died, but last year astronomers finally looked into HR 6819 again and found out how big it is and how close it is to us. The black hole isn't a threat to us but the black hole stars are visible with the naked eye in the southern hemisphere.

You can see more about it, and also find out where to look in the sky for this new black hole, here.