Existence of black holes in the solar system
Pro Research Analysisby 
Searched over 200M research papers
Black Holes in the Solar System: Current Evidence and Constraints
Primordial Black Holes and Their Possible Presence in the Solar System
Primordial black holes (PBHs) are considered as potential dark matter candidates and could, in theory, exist within the solar system. Studies have examined the gravitational effects that PBHs of asteroidal mass would have on planetary orbits. Simulations show that if such PBHs were present, their gravitational influence would be dominated by the closest encounters with planets. However, the resulting perturbations are currently too small to be detected with existing measurement accuracy, meaning that PBHs are not directly constrained by current solar system observations. Detecting their influence would require much more precise measurements or the ability to extract signals well below the current noise levelThoss2024Tran2023.
Searches for Black Holes in the Outer Solar System
There has been speculation that a hypothesized "Planet Nine" could actually be a black hole in the outer solar system. Upcoming astronomical surveys, such as the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), are expected to be able to confirm or rule out the existence of such a black hole within a year by searching for accretion flares caused by impacts with small objects from the Oort Cloud. LSST will also be able to probe for planet-mass black holes out to the edge of the Oort Cloud, potentially improving current constraints on the presence of subsolar mass black holes in the solar system.
Constraints from Solar System Ephemerides and Cratering
The precise tracking of planetary positions (solar system ephemerides) provides a way to constrain the presence of PBHs. If PBHs made up a significant fraction of dark matter, their gravitational effects would have altered the orbits of planets in detectable ways. Recent analyses suggest that a large portion of the possible mass range for PBHs as dark matter can be ruled out based on the lack of observed changes in the mass enclosed within 50 astronomical units from the Sun. Additionally, PBHs passing through the solar system could create unique craters on bodies like the Moon, Mercury, and Ganymede. The absence of such craters in high-resolution scans further constrains the possible abundance of asteroid-mass PBHs.
Black Holes Formed from Neutron Stars and the Sun
Some research explores the possibility of solar-mass black holes forming from the collapse of neutron stars, either through the capture of PBHs or the accumulation of certain types of dark matter. These "transmuted" black holes would have a mass distribution similar to neutron stars, which is distinct from black holes formed by conventional stellar evolution. Gravitational wave observations are expected to help distinguish between these scenarios in the futureTakhistov2021Kouvaris2018.
Regarding the Sun, there is no evidence of a black hole at its center. While the idea is theoretically interesting, current models and observations do not support the existence of a black hole within the Sun. If PBHs exist, they could, in principle, be captured by stars, but such scenarios remain speculative and are not supported by current data.
Gravitational Lensing and Black Holes as Observational Tools
Black holes can act as gravitational lenses, bending light from background sources. While this effect is well-studied for supermassive and stellar-mass black holes outside the solar system, there is ongoing research into whether such effects could be used to detect black holes within or near the solar system. However, no such detections have been made to date.
Conclusion
There is currently no direct evidence for the existence of black holes within the solar system. Multiple lines of research—including planetary orbit analysis, crater surveys, and upcoming astronomical surveys—place strong constraints on the possible presence of primordial or planet-mass black holes. While the search continues, especially with new observational tools on the horizon, the existence of black holes in the solar system remains unconfirmed and is increasingly constrained by precise measurements and observationsThoss2024Siraj2020Tran2023+4 MORE.
Sources and full results
Most relevant research papers on this topic