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. 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.

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.

For comparison, the nearest star to the Sun (Proxima Centauri) is about away, and the Milky Way galaxy is approximately 100,000 light-years in diameter.

List

Distance SystemComponentNotes and additional references (ly)(kpc)DesignationDescriptionRight ascension(Epoch J2000.0) Declination(Epoch J2000.0)DiscoverydateBefore 1900: earliest certain recorded observation. 1900–1930: first catalogued. After 1930: earliest trigonometric or spectroscopic parallax.DesignationStellarclassMass(M☉)Gaia BH1 (TIC 125470397)Binary system with orbit t=185.63 d and eccentricity e=0.452022A BH B G Gaia BH3 (Gaia DR3 4318465066420528000)Binary system with orbit t=11.6 yr and eccentricity e=0.72912024A BH B G Gaia BH2 (Gaia DR3 5870569352746779008)Binary system with orbit t=1276.7 d and eccentricity e=0.5182023A BH B K III Gaia18ajz Candidate for isolated black hole detected by microlensing 2024 BH Most probable solution parameters shown. Another solution has a mass of 5.6 MSol. A0620-00 (V616 Mon)Binary star system with orbit t=7.75 h 1986 A BH Low-mass X-ray binary B K MOA-2011-BLG-191/OGLE-2011-BLG-0462 Isolated black hole detected by microlensing 2022 BH First confirmed black hole detected via microlensing GRS 1124-683 (GU Muscae)Binary star system with orbit t=10.38 h 1991 A BH B K XTE J1118+480 2000 A BH B M Cygnus X-1 (Cyg X-1)Binary star system with orbit t=5.6 d1971 April–May Cyg X-1 BH The first X-ray source widely accepted to be a black hole. HDE 226868 O V404 CygniBinary star system with orbit t=6.5 d1989 May 22 A BH First black hole to have an accurate parallax measurement of its distance from the Solar System B K Early K giant star GRO J0422+32Binary star system with orbit t=5.09 h 1992 Aug 5 A BH B M1 MACHO-96-BLG-5Candidate isolated black hole detected by microlensing2001 BHVery strong candidate, parameters listed are of best fit GS 2000+25 1988 A BH B M Gaia18cbfCandidate isolated mass-gap black hole detected by microlensing2022 BHBest fit. Second-best fit has a mass of 1.71 MSol, which would make it a neutron star.Swift J1727.8-1613Detected via a transient X-ray event2023ABHB K4V Cygnus X-3 Binary star system with orbit t=4.8 h 1967 Cyg X-3 BH V1521 Cyg WN MACHO-98-BLG-6Candidate isolated mass-gap black hole detected by microlensing2001 BHVery strong candidate, parameters listed are of best fit GRO J1655-40Binary star system with orbit t = 2.6 d 1994 A BH V1033 Sco F5IV MACHO-99-BLG-22Candidate isolated black hole detected by microlensing2002 BH Very strong candidate Sagittarius A*Supermassive black hole 1974 BH ±  Center of the Galaxy 4U 1543-475Binary star system with orbit t = 26.8 h 1971 A BH B A2V

Nearest black hole record holders This is a succession of black holes that have been known as the nearest black hole.

+ Nearest black hole titleholders Date Distance Name Mass Type Notes 2022— Gaia BH1 Main-sequence star with dormant compact mass binary First dormant black hole discovered, first Sun-like star in black hole binary system discovered: First detected via positional shifts of visible companion 1986–2022 V616 Monocerotis (A0620-00) Visible variable star X-ray binary system First observed in X-rays 1975–1986 Cygnus X-1 X-ray binary system First black hole discovered: first observed in 1964 in X-rays, first speculated as black hole in 1972, first confirmed black hole in 1975, accepted as a black hole by 1990

See also List of black holes List of most massive black holes Lists of astronomical objects List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs NGC 3201 – a globular cluster with many black holes NGC 7727 – a galaxy with the closest confirmed binary black hole at 89 million light-years away

References