Closest and Smallest Black Hole Known Discovered

[iancampbell]

Also, when I hear "smallest and closest" my brain immediately says "probably not a coincidence."

Instead, I think, we may see this as the nearest black hole because such small objects may be the most ubiquitous kind of black hole.  If they are, then one of them is the nearest black hole to virtually everyplace, and we just don't know it yet! These are right at the limit of our ability to detect. there could be a dozen of them closer and we wouldn't have seen them yet, just because we haven't been searching for them, or haven't been *able* to search for them, until now.

I think 3 solar masses is pretty close to the smallest black hole that it's possible to have appear by natural means. They normally arise in supernovae, IIRC; anything smaller wouldn't be a black hole but a neutron or quark star instead.