Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Aquila (Aql)
Gaia BH3 Starfield, Martin Junius
Gaia BH3 Starfield
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Gaia BH3 Starfield, Martin Junius
Gaia BH3 Starfield
Powered byPixInsight

Equipment

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Acquisition details

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Description

IAS - Internationale Amateursternwarte e.V. - Hakos Observatory, Namibia
IAS Remote Telescope "Dieter"

Data acquisition: IAS remote team / Martin Junius


With #3 recently discovered in the analysis during preparation of Gaia DR4 data, there are now 3 black holes in the Gaia catalog. Or more precise, 3 binary systems consisting of a companion star and a likely stellar-mass black hole.

So I took the opportunity to capture the corresponding starfields with the new IAS remote telescope “Dieter” at Hakos, Namibia. The image only shows the companion star, of course. ;-)

Gaia BH3: (Gaia DR3 4318465066420528000) A binary system consisting of a G-type giant star and a stellar-mass black hole, approx. 32.7 M☉, the heaviest known stellar black hole in the Milky Way, distance 1926 ly, located in the constellation Aquila.

At first I wasn’t sure whether I found the right object, as the catalog gives the coordinates RA=19h39m18.7115472s, DEC=+14d55m54.010992s and the read-out in Pixinsight showed ICRS RA=19h39m18.68s, DEC=+14d55m50.3s. But thanks to the discussion with Ulrich Bastian I found out that it is necessary to take into account the large proper motion of the object, which results in almost 4″ deviation in declination. Calculating the current position for 2024.5 with Astropy yields RA=19h39m18.66368537s DEC=+14d55m50.2085012s.

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Sky plot

Sky plot

Histogram

Gaia BH3 Starfield, Martin Junius