DISCOVERY OF THE FIRST ‘BLACK HOLE TRIPLE’ SYSTEM

GEOGRAPHY

DISCOVERY OF THE FIRST ‘BLACK HOLE TRIPLE’ SYSTEM

Astronomers have found a rare triple black hole system called V404 Cygni that changes our understanding of how black holes form.

• Located about 8,000 light-years from Earth, V404 Cygni has a black hole with two orbiting stars—one very close, circling every 6.5 days, and a second much farther away, around 100 times the distance of Pluto from our Sun.
  

INSIGHTS FROM V404 CYGNI

• This V404 Cygni system suggests a different formation method called “direct collapse,” where a black hole forms quietly without a supernova explosion. Thousands of simulations confirmed that this was the most likely way V404 Cygni’s black hole formed, sparing the second, distant star from being ejected by a violent explosion.