We might not spot it from earth, but if we’re confident enough of where we’ll find it, its orbital parameters, its mass, a probe could be sent, and it could be detected through its SOI, and perhaps even direct observation.
Sure, ~300AU is a long way, but we have the technology, and it’s our closest black hole candidate by many orders of magnitude
If it is a choice between, (1) Spend $500M just to see whether there really is a black hole there, or (2) it is probably a just statistical fluke -- it is not hard to guess which will be chosen.
Comments
We might not spot it from earth, but if we’re confident enough of where we’ll find it, its orbital parameters, its mass, a probe could be sent, and it could be detected through its SOI, and perhaps even direct observation.
Sure, ~300AU is a long way, but we have the technology, and it’s our closest black hole candidate by many orders of magnitude
If it is a choice between, (1) Spend $500M just to see whether there really is a black hole there, or (2) it is probably a just statistical fluke -- it is not hard to guess which will be chosen.