Year in review: China's major scientific and infrastructure achievements

China-led team discovers biggest stellar black hole

An international team of scientists led by China has discovered a king-size, stellar-mass black hole in Earth's "cosmic backyard" containing the mass of 70 suns. It is the biggest known of its kind and roughly three times bigger than what scientists previously thought was possible, researchers said on Nov 28.

The black hole, named LB-1, was found slowly devouring gas from a nearby star more than 13,800 light-years from Earth, relatively nearby, considering the estimated 105,700 light-year diameter of Earth's galaxy.

LB-1 was first spotted by Chinese scientists in 2016 using spectrum data collected by the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope. An international team of 55 scientists from 28 research institutions in seven nations, including China, the United States and Spain, have worked together in the past three years to confirm the discovery.