What is a Black Hole?

Wasanar
What is a Black Hole?

A black hole is an astonishing body in space. The stellar body in space pulls gravity towards it that not even light can escape from its pull. The gravity increases a thousand folds because the matter is squeezed so tightly. 

Usually, a black hole forms when a star is on the verge of dying. Since not even light can get out of the black hole, humans can’t see it. They are practically invisible. Special space telescopes can help detect these black holes. 

But here’s a caveat, not even these telescopes can capture the pictures of these black holes except for EHT (Event Horizon Telescope). The EHT is a planet-sized telescope with captured data and photographs of a black hole found in the M87 galaxy for the first time. 

The other telescopes detect black holes by looking at how stars present close to black holes react. 

The Size of the Black Holes

Black holes can be big or small. The smallest black holes, according to scientists, are as small as an atom. Don’t go on their size, as these black holes carry the mass of a large mountain. There is another type of black hole called “stellar black holes”. 

These black holes can have a mass that is almost 20 times more than the sun’s mass. Our Milky Way might have a significant number of these stellar black holes. The giant black holes are known as supermassive black holes. 

These giants have a mass of more than one million suns. Even scientists have found proof that every large galaxy has a supermassive black hole in its center. Our Milky Way galaxy also has a supermassive black hole at its center called “Sagittarius A”. It has a mass that equals to around four million suns. 

How Are Black Holes Formed?

Scientists had deduced that the smallest black holes were formed when the universe came into existence. On the other hand, stellar black holes are created when a massive star’s center falls on itself or collapses. 

This process is called a supernova. A supernova is an exploding star that blasts some parts of the star into space. Scientific theory suggests that supermassive black holes were formed simultaneously when the galaxy they reside in was created. 

Black holes are an intriguing concept and many famous scientists, especially Stephen Hawkings, spent their entire lives finding more about these beautiful paradoxes. 

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