Space is big. Really big. You’ve probably heard that a thousand times, but it’s hard to wrap your head around just how much empty room there is out there until you try to find something that doesn't want to be found. For a long time, we thought we had a decent handle on the Milky Way. We knew the stars, the gas clouds, and the massive, hungry black holes that sit at the center of everything. But then we found the unicorn in the galaxy.
It’s small.
✨ Don't miss: Finding the Best San Diego Superchargers: Why Some Spots are Better Than Others
Actually, it’s tiny by cosmic standards. Officially named V723 Mon, this object is a "unicorn" because it’s a rare, record-breaking find that basically sat right under our noses for decades without anyone noticing. It’s located about 1,500 light-years away in the constellation Monoceros (which, ironically, translates to "The Unicorn"). When researchers at The Ohio State University announced its discovery, it shook up what we thought we knew about how stars die and how black holes hide.
What is the Unicorn in the Galaxy?
Honestly, the name is just perfect. It’s a double meaning. One, it lives in the Monoceros constellation. Two, it’s a black hole with a mass so low—about three times the mass of our Sun—that most scientists didn't think black holes like this could even exist.
Most black holes we find are either "stellar-mass" (about 5 to 30 times the Sun) or "supermassive" (millions of times the Sun). There was this weird "mass gap" where we just weren't finding anything small. The unicorn in the galaxy fell right into that gap.
How do you find something that doesn't emit light and is way smaller than its cousins? You look at its neighbor. The black hole isn't alone. It’s orbiting a red giant star. Astronomers noticed the star was acting weird. Its light was shifting, and its shape was being distorted—kinda like how the moon pulls on Earth's oceans to create tides. This "tidal disruption" meant something heavy was pulling on the star, but there was no visible second star to account for the gravity.
The Science of Hiding in Plain Sight
Tarindu Jayasinghe, a doctoral student at Ohio State at the time of the discovery, led the team that looked at the data from various telescope systems like TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) and ASAS-SN. They realized the data had been there all along. It just needed someone to connect the dots.
When you look at a binary system, you expect to see two things. If you only see one star, but that star is being yanked around, you’ve got a "non-interacting" black hole. It’s not "eating" the star—at least not yet—so it’s not spitting out the massive amounts of X-rays that usually give black holes away. It’s just... sitting there. Dark.
This discovery is a big deal for astrophysics. It suggests that our galaxy is probably crawling with these low-mass black holes. We just haven't been looking for the right clues.
Why the Mass Gap Matters
For years, there was this debate. If a star collapses, it usually becomes a neutron star or a black hole. But there was always this empty space in the data between the heaviest neutron stars (around 2.1 solar masses) and the lightest black holes (around 5 solar masses).
- Neutron Stars: Super dense, but they have a limit.
- The Unicorn: Sits at 3 solar masses.
- Traditional Black Holes: Usually start at 5 solar masses.
The unicorn in the galaxy proves the bridge exists. It tells us that the way stars die is more complicated than our old models suggested. Some stars might shed just enough mass to collapse into this tiny, compact point without reaching the massive sizes we usually associate with "monsters" of the deep.
How They Actually Found It
They used a technique called "photometric tidal distortion." It sounds fancy, but basically, if you have a massive object near a star, the gravity is so strong it stretches the star into an egg shape. As that "egg" rotates, the amount of light we see changes because the surface area facing us changes.
The researchers looked at the light curves. They saw the "pulse" of the star. They calculated the mass needed to stretch a star that much.
The math didn't lie.
It couldn't be a neutron star—too heavy. It couldn't be a normal star—we would see the light. It had to be a black hole. Specifically, the smallest one ever recorded at the time.
Life Near a Tiny Black Hole
Imagine being on a planet orbiting a star that is being slowly stretched by an invisible ghost. You wouldn't see the unicorn in the galaxy with your eyes. You’d just see your sun becoming distorted.
The gravity of V723 Mon is intense but localized. Because it’s only three times the mass of the Sun, you’d have to get relatively close to feel the "spaghettification" effects that people love to talk about in sci-fi movies. But for the red giant star it’s dancing with, the effects are very real.
This system is a snapshot in time. Eventually, the red giant will expand even more as it ages. When that happens, the black hole might start stripping material away. That’s when the "unicorn" will stop being a quiet neighbor and start screaming in X-rays as the stolen gas heats up to millions of degrees.
Why We Should Care
You might think, "Okay, cool, a small dark spot in space. So what?"
But here’s the thing. If we can find one unicorn in the galaxy, it means there are likely thousands. Or millions.
Finding these objects helps us map the "census" of the Milky Way. If we only see the big, loud black holes, we’re getting a biased view of the universe. It’s like trying to understand a forest but only looking at the 100-foot-tall oak trees and ignoring all the bushes. You’re missing the majority of the ecosystem.
💡 You might also like: How Jack and Laura Dangermond Built a Multi-Billion Dollar Empire Without Ever Going Public
Misconceptions About the Unicorn
People hear "black hole" and think of Interstellar—a giant, swirling vortex of doom. V723 Mon isn't that. It’s subtle.
Another misconception is that it’s "new." It’s not new. It’s been there for billions of years. We just finally got smart enough to look at the light curves of its companion star properly.
Some people also confuse this with the "closest" black hole. While 1,500 light-years is incredibly close in galactic terms, there have been other candidates (like Gaia BH1) that might be even closer. But the Unicorn remains special because of its bizarrely low mass.
The Future of Finding Unicorns
We’re getting better at this. The Vera C. Rubin Observatory, which is coming online soon, is going to change everything. It’s going to take a massive, high-resolution "movie" of the sky every few nights.
We are going to find so many of these things.
The unicorn in the galaxy was the proof of concept. It showed astronomers that if they look at "boring" stars that seem to be wobbling for no reason, they might find a hidden treasure.
Actionable Insights for Space Enthusiasts
If you want to follow the hunt for more "unicorns" or understand the science better, here is how you can actually engage with this stuff:
💡 You might also like: Does It Show if I Screenshot an Instagram Story: The Real Answer for 2026
- Monitor TESS Data: You don't have to be a pro. The Planet Hunters TESS project allows citizens to look at light curves. You might literally find the next black hole yourself.
- Use Star Map Apps: Find the constellation Monoceros. You won't see the black hole, obviously, but knowing that a 3-solar-mass anomaly is sitting in that patch of sky makes stargazing a lot more intense.
- Follow the "Mass Gap" Research: Keep an eye on papers from the Ohio State University astronomy department or the European Southern Observatory (ESO). This is where the cutting-edge stuff on low-mass black holes is happening.
- Understand the Tools: Learn the difference between "radial velocity" (the wobble) and "tidal distortion" (the stretching). These are the two primary ways we find things that don't shine.
The discovery of the unicorn in the galaxy is a reminder that the universe isn't just made of the big, flashy things we see in textbooks. It’s mostly made of the quiet, dark, and weird things that require us to look a little closer at the data we already have. We are living in an era where the "invisible" is finally becoming visible.
Next time you look up at the Monoceros constellation, just remember: there’s a tiny, powerful ghost out there, pulling on a star, waiting for us to find its siblings.
To stay updated on these discoveries, track the monthly releases from the Gaia Mission's data sets. These catalogs contain the movement data for billions of stars and are the primary resource for finding the next "wobble" that could signal a hidden companion. Focus specifically on "astrometric binaries" in the data, as these are the most likely candidates for harboring non-luminous objects like the Unicorn. Monitoring the Open Astronomy Catalogs can also provide real-time updates on newly confirmed compact objects within our local galactic neighborhood.