In 1916, Karl Schwarzchild theorized the existence of black holes as a resolution to Einstein's field equations for his Theory of General Relativity.
Similar to the method used for hunting exoplanets , the spectra provided by these instruments allowed the team to observe and measure the gravitational forces influencing its orbit. These follow-up observations confirmed Gaia BH1's orbital solution and that a companion of roughly 10 solar masses was co-orbiting with it.
"Models predict that the Milky Way contains about 100 million black holes. But we've only observed about 20 of them. All the previous ones we've observed are in 'X-ray binaries': the black hole is eating a companion star, and it shines brightly in X-rays as that material's gravitational potential energy is turned into light.
If confirmed, these findings could mean there's a robust population of dormant black holes in the Milky Way. This refers to black holes that are not evident from bright disks, bursts of radiation, or hypervelocity jets emanating from their poles . To verify their findings, El-Badry and his colleagues are looking forward to Gaia Data Release 4 , the date of which is still to be determined, which will include all data gathered during the five-year nominal mission .