Spacetime With Stuart Gary

Prepare for a cosmic revelation in SpaceTime Series 27 Episode 49, as we journey through the Milky Way to uncover a celestial heavyweight—the most massive stellar black hole ever discovered in our galaxy. Detected by the vigilant eyes of the European Space Agency's Gaia mission, this black hole, known as Gaia BH3, imposes a peculiar wobble on its companion star, betraying its presence. Weighing in at a colossal 33 solar masses and residing a mere 2,000 light-years away in the constellation Aquila, BH3 redefines our understanding of stellar remnants and the mysterious dance of gravity and mass that shapes them.Then, we take a detour through the evolutionary tracks of white dwarf stars, which have long been the cooling embers of the cosmic campfire. Recent observations from Gaia have spotted a group of these stellar corpses defying the natural order, mysteriously ceasing to cool. This perplexing behavior is challenging astronomers to rethink the very nature of these ancient stars, which may not be the reliable