An artist's impression depicts the orbits of the two stars and the black hole in the HR 6819 triple system, made up of an inner binary with one star (orbit in blue) and a newly discovered black hole (orbit in red), as well as a third star in a wider orbit (also in blue), in this image released on May 6, 2020. ESO/L. Calcada/Handout via REUTERS
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Astronomers have spotted the closest black hole to Earth ever discovered and are surprised about its living arrangements - residing harmoniously with two stars in a remarkable celestial marriage that may end in a nasty breakup.
The black hole, at least 4.2 times the mass of the sun, is gravitationally bound to two stars in a so-called triple system roughly 1,000 light years from Earth, researchers said on Wednesday.
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