4 facts
Known as Gaia BH1, it's located in the constellation Ophiuchus and is about 10 times the mass of our Sun. This discovery challenges previous assumptions about how many dormant black holes exist in our galaxy and their detectability.
Scientists estimate there are between 100 billion and 400 billion stars in our Milky Way galaxy alone, and there are billions of galaxies in the observable universe. This vastly outnumbers the estimated 7.5 x 10^18 grains of sand on all Earth's beaches.
While the exact number of stars is unknown, current estimates suggest there are approximately 10^24 stars, far exceeding the estimated 7.5 x 10^18 grains of sand on Earth. This vastness highlights the immense scale of the cosmos.
This mind-boggling comparison helps visualize the immense scale of the cosmos. Scientists estimate there are billions of galaxies, each containing billions of stars, making the number truly astronomical and humbling.