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SCIENCE
Physical - Astronomy
Closest Black Holes to Earth
This list features the black holes in closest proximity to Earth.
RANK | BLACK HOLE | DISTANCE (light years) | DISTANCE (miles) | DISCOVERED | CONSTELLATION |
1 | Gaia BH1 | 1560±10 | 9.23 trillion | 2022 | Ophiuchus |
2 | Gaia BH3 | 1840±30 | 11.44 trillion | 2024 | Aquila |
3 | Gaia BH2 | 3800±80 | 22.36 trillion | 2023 | Centaurus |
4 | A0620-00 | 4700±800 | 27.60 trillion | 1986 | Monoceros |
5 | MOA-2011-BLG-191 or OGLE-2011-BLG-0462 | 5150±590 | 31.70 trillion | 2022 | Sagittarius |
6 | GRS 1124-683 | 5400+6900−1900 | 33.55 trillion | 1991 | Musca |
7 | XTE J1118+480 | 5720±300 | 35.50 trillion | 2000 | Ursa Major |
8 | Cygnus X-1 | 7300±200 | 43.20 trillion | 1971 | Cygnus |
9 | V404 Cygni | 7800±460 | 46.00 trillion | 1989 | Cygnus |
10 | GRO J0422+32 | 8100±1000 | 50.30 trillion | 1992 | Perseus |
References
Sky at Night Magazine (2023) Closest black hole to Earth. [online] Available at: https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/news/closest-black-hole-to-earth [Accessed 1 December 2025].
Discover Magazine (2023) Tour 10 of the closest black holes to Earth. [online] Available at: https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/tour-10-of-the-closest-black-holes-to-earth [Accessed 1 December 2025].
NASA (2023) Black holes. [online] Available at: https://science.nasa.gov/universe/black-holes/ [Accessed 1 December 2025].
Space.com (2023) Black holes: facts, formation & discovery. [online] Available at: https://www.space.com/15421-black-holes-facts-formation-discovery-sdcmp.html [Accessed 1 December 2025].
Live Science (2022) Black hole discoveries. [online] Available at: https://www.livescience.com/black-hole-discoveries-2022 [Accessed 1 December 2025].
Wikipedia (2023) List of nearest known black holes. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nearest_known_black_holes [Accessed 1 December 2025].
European Southern Observatory (n.d.) ESO Instrument Finds Closest Black Hole to Earth. [online] Available at: https://www.eso.org [Accessed 1 December 2025].
El-Badry, K., Rix, H.-W., Quataert, E., Howard, A.W., Isaacson, H., Fuller, J., Hawkins, K., Breivik, K., Wong, K.W.K., Rodriguez, A.C., Conroy, C., Shahaf, S., Mazeh, T., Arenou, F., Burdge, K.B., Bashi, D., Faigler, S., Weisz, D.R., Seeburger, R., Monter, S.A. and Wojno, J. (2023) ‘A Sun-like star orbiting a black hole’, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 518(1), pp. 1057–1085. Available at: https://arxiv.org/abs/2209.06833 [Accessed 1 December 2025].
Panuzzo, P. (2024) ‘Discovery of a dormant 33 solar-mass black hole in pre-release Gaia astrometry’, The Astrophysical Journal, 686, L2. Available at: https://arxiv.org/abs/2404.10486 [Accessed 1 December 2025].
Tanikawa, A., Hattori, K., Kawanaka, N., Kinugawa, T., Shikauchi, M. and Tsuna, D. (2023) ‘Search for a Black Hole Binary in Gaia DR3 Astrometric Binary Stars with Spectroscopic Data’, The Astrophysical Journal, 946(2), 79. Available at: https://arxiv.org/abs/2209.05632 [Accessed 1 December 2025].
El-Badry, K., Rix, H.-W. et al. (2023) ‘A red giant orbiting a black hole’, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 521(3), pp. 4323–4348. Available at: https://arxiv.org/abs/2302.07880 [Accessed 1 December 2025].
Research Consortium on Nearby Stars (2007) The One Hundred Nearest Star Systems. GSU. Available at: https://www.gsu.edu [Accessed 1 December 2025].
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