Swift J1745-26 is a stellar-mass black hole located a few degrees from the center of the Milky Way galaxy toward the constellation Sagittarius.^[2] It was discovered by NASA's Swift satellite on September 16, 2012 due to the detection of an X-ray nova.^[2] The pattern of X-rays from the nova indicated that the central object was a black hole. Its name arises from the coordinates of its sky position. While astronomers do not know its precise distance, they think the object resides about 20,000 to 30,000 light-years away in the galaxy's inner region.^[2] Ground-based observatories have detected infrared and radio emissions from Swift J1745-26, but thick clouds of obscuring dust have prevented astronomers from catching Swift J1745-26 in visible light.^[2]

Swift J1745-26 must be a member of a low-mass X-ray binary (LMXB) system, which includes a normal, sun-like star.^[2]