The black hole at the center of the Milky Way, named Sagittarius A, has long been thought of as the nearest black hole to Earth, but that may not be the case.

A star cluster just outside the Milky Way known as Omega Centauri appears to have a black hole at its center according to new research.

If confirmed, this black hole would be about 18,000 light-years away.

The find is important because the black hole is between 20,000 and 50,000 times more massive than our sun. Black holes in this size range are rare and are important based on the current models of the universe.

Finding the black hole was based on images from an unlikely source. Dr. Holger Baumgardt from the University of Queensland is part of the team that found this evidence, and said in a statement:

“These images were originally produced to calibrate the Hubble’s instruments rather than for scientific use, but they turned out to be the ideal data set for our research and proved to be invaluable.”

Once it was found, it had to be confirmed that it was indeed a black hole and not some other object. Since black holes can’t be directly seen, the researchers had to look closely at the stars in the cluster and determine their speed and location properly.

Baumgardt went on to tell IFLScience:

“I think this will invigorate the field and lead to a lot of new research in this area. We can begin to speculate how this black hole formed, how it’s related to other massive black holes astronomers have found, and where other intermediate-mass black holes might exist. It’s a thrilling time to be an astronomer and we’re excited to see where our discovery will lead.”

You can see where this black hole is located in this informative video:

Our nearest black hole may be closer than we thought.

It seems like we’re learning something new about space every day.

If you thought that was interesting, you might like to read about a second giant hole has opened up on the sun’s surface. Here’s what it means.