Black holes in the solar system
Pro Research Analysisby 
Searched over 200M research papers
Primordial Black Holes in the Solar System: Existence and Detection
Primordial black holes (PBHs) are a theoretical type of black hole that could have formed in the early universe and may contribute to dark matter. Several studies have explored whether such black holes could exist within our solar system and how we might detect them.
Gravitational Effects of Primordial Black Holes on Planetary Orbits
Research shows that if PBHs of asteroidal mass make up all dark matter, their gravitational influence on planetary orbits in the solar system would be very subtle. Simulations indicate that the closest PBH encounter dominates any gravitational effect, but current measurement uncertainties in planetary distances, such as between Earth and Mars, are too large to detect these small perturbations. Detecting PBHs through their gravitational influence would require much more precise measurements than are currently available Thoss2024Tran2023.
Constraints from Solar System Ephemerides
The precise tracking of planetary positions (solar system ephemerides) can be used to rule out the presence of PBHs in certain mass ranges. If the mass within 50 astronomical units (au) of the Sun had changed significantly due to PBHs, it would have been detected. This method has already excluded a large portion of the possible mass range for PBHs as dark matter candidates .
Cratering Signatures on Solar System Bodies
PBHs passing through the solar system could create unique craters on bodies like the Moon, Mercury, and Ganymede. These craters would differ from those caused by traditional impacts. The absence of such craters in high-resolution scans can be used to set limits on the abundance of PBHs, potentially improving current constraints on their existence .
The Planet Nine Hypothesis: Could It Be a Black Hole?
Some researchers have proposed that the mysterious "Planet Nine," suggested by the unusual orbits of distant trans-Neptunian objects, could actually be a PBH. Observational programs like the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) are expected to confirm or rule out this possibility by searching for accretion flares caused by impacts with small objects. LSST could also detect or exclude planet-mass black holes out to the edge of the Oort Cloud, providing new insights into the dark matter fraction in subsolar mass black holes Siraj2020Scholtz2019.
Formation of Solar-Mass Black Holes in the Solar System
Solar-mass black holes (about the mass of our Sun) are not expected from normal stellar evolution in the solar system. However, they could form if neutron stars capture PBHs or accumulate certain types of dark matter, leading to their collapse into black holes. The mass distribution of these "transmuted" black holes would be distinct and could be identified through gravitational wave observations. Current data from LIGO/VIRGO is consistent with the existence of such objects, but more observations are needed to confirm their origin Takhistov2021Kouvaris2018.
Other Detection Methods: Gravitational Lensing and Neutrino Signals
Black holes can act as gravitational lenses, bending light from background sources. This effect, called retrolensing, could theoretically allow us to observe past events in the solar system if a black hole is nearby. Additionally, if dark matter accumulates in the Sun or Earth and collapses into a black hole, it could produce detectable heat or high-energy neutrino signals, offering alternative ways to search for black holes in the solar system Acevedo2020Santos2025.
Conclusion
While there is no direct evidence for black holes within our solar system, multiple lines of research are actively probing their possible existence. Current constraints from planetary motion, crater analysis, and observational surveys like LSST are narrowing the window for PBHs as dark matter candidates. Future improvements in measurement precision and new detection methods may soon provide definitive answers about the presence of black holes in our solar system.
Sources and full results
Most relevant research papers on this topic