The discovered black hole was labelled Gaia BH3. Its discovery was made possible by the presence of its companion star, whose observations allowed not only to identify and accurately determine the mass of the black hole, but also to test some theoretical predictions.
“Stars in pairs tend to have similar compositions, which means that the companion of the detected black hole contains important clues about its progenitor,” the study authors noted.
Beyond the Milky Way, not a few equally massive stellar-mass black holes have been discovered. Theoretical predictions suggest that they may be formed by the collapse of stars with very few elements heavier than hydrogen and helium in their chemical composition. These so-called metal-poor stars are thought to lose less mass during their lifetime and therefore have more material left over after they die to form large black holes.
