Curious about the latest trends in 100? Start with our overview of The 100 Million Invisible Black Holes Roaming Our Galaxy .
These cosmic wanderers drift through the darkness completely alone. Because they don't have a companion star to eat, they don't emit X-rays or light. They are perfectly invisible ghosts.
So, how do we find them?
We look for their gravity. When a rogue black hole passes in front of a distant star, its intense gravity warps the fabric of space, magnifying the starlight like a lens. This is called "gravitational microlensing."
In 2022, astronomers used the Hubble Space Telescope to confirm the first-ever detection of one of these drifters. Named OGLE-2011-BLG-0462, it is located about 5,000 light-years away and is moving at 100,000 miles per hour.
While that one is far away, statistics suggest the nearest one could be as close as 80 light-years from Earth.
Don't worry, though—space is huge, and the odds of one hitting us are practically zero. But it is spooky to know they are out there, roaming the dark.
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