Gaia Mission Discovers Unprecedented Black Holes Near Earth.

The European Space Agency's Gaia mission has discovered a new type of black hole, with two members located closer to Earth than any other known black hole. The black holes, named Gaia BH1 and Gaia BH2, were discovered by studying the movement of their companion stars, which showed a gravitational influence from massive objects. These black holes are unique in that they do not emit any light and are only detectable by their gravitational effects. The discovery suggests that black holes in wider binary star systems are more common than previously thought, and Gaia's next data release in 2025 is expected to reveal more of these systems.