Black holes are one of the most terrifyingly fascinating features of our universe. These mysterious space fixtures, which resemble long dark tunnels (or giant garbage disposals), exert a gravitational pull so strong that nothing nearby — not even light — can escape swallowing. What goes in (most of the time) never comes out. (We'll get to that later.)
As a result, black holes are as dark and light as the empty, dark space around them. Scientists know they exist not because they can see one, but because the black hole's massive gravitational binding affects the orbits of nearby stars and gas. Another sign is detectable radiation when the gas is sucked in and superheated. In fact, the first black hole in the Cygnus constellation, Cygnus X-1, was discovered in 1964 as a result of these strong X-ray emissions.
Keep reading if this all sounds like science fiction. This is just the tip of the cosmic iceberg. Black holes, as scientists are discovering, are even stranger than science fiction. Here are seven secrets to think about.
1. Time and space are distorted around black holes.
If you fly close to a black hole, its extreme gravitational pull will gradually slow down time and distort space. You will get closer and closer, eventually merging with the orbiting disk of space material (stars, gases, dust, planets) moving toward the event horizon, also known as the "point of no return". Is. Once you cross this line, gravity will exceed all chances of escape, and you'll be hyper-expanded, or "spaghettified," as you move toward the singularity at the center of the black hole. An unimaginably small point with a monstrous mass where gravity and density theoretically approach infinity and space-time shrinks to infinity. In other words, you will be consumed and destroyed in a place that violates the laws of physics as we know them.
2. Miniature, Middling, and Mammoth Sizes of Black Holes.
The most common type of black hole is of medium stellar mass. When a massive dying star, or supernova, explodes, the rest of the core collapses under the weight of its own gravity. It eventually collapses into a small, infinitely dense singularity that serves as the center. In fact, black holes are points of extremely dense matter that have heavy gravitational footprints. Scientists have discovered some black holes that are much bigger than our Sun. Stellar-mass black holes typically weigh about ten times that of our Sun.
Supermassive black holes are the largest objects in the universe, with a mass billions of times greater than that of our Sun. Scientists don't fully understand how they form, but these huge celestial mind-boggling objects are thought to exist at the center of every galaxy, even the smallest. Our galaxy revolves around Sagittarius A* (or Sgr A*), which has a mass of about 4 million suns.
Researchers have also recently discovered stealth black holes, which tend to devour material and gases at a slower rate, emit fewer X-rays, and are thus more difficult to detect. Astronomers believe that small primitive black holes formed in the moments after the Big Bang. The smallest of these mini-mysteries may be smaller than an atom (but with the mass of an asteroid), and the universe may be filled with them.
3. There Are Countless Black Holes
The Milky Way galaxy alone is thought to contain between 10 million and one billion stellar-mass black holes, as well as the supermassive Sgr A* at its core. It's like trying to count grains of sand with 100 billion galaxies, each containing millions of stellar-mass black holes and a core supermassive monster (not to mention the discovery of other types).
4. Black Holes Consume Things — and Consistently Spit Them Out
You can rest assured that black holes don't hunt down planets and other space creatures like hungry predators. Rather, these celestial animals feed on material that orbits very close, such as the unfortunate star that scientists have been eating for the past decade (the longest black-hole meal ever recorded). The good news is that Earth is not in danger of colliding with any known black hole.
But just because we're unlikely to get slapped doesn't mean we shouldn't be worried. That's because Sgr A* (and possibly other supermassive behemoths) occasionally throw out planet-sized "spitballs" that could one day destroy us.
How do spitballs escape the clutches of black holes? They are actually made of material that slips off the accretion disc and accumulates in chunks before passing through the point of no return. In the case of Sgr A*, these massive fragments are thrown into our galaxy at 20 million miles per hour. Let's hope it never comes too close to our solar system.
5. Supermassive black holes give rise to stars and determine the number of stars in the Milky Way.
A recent discovery suggests that behemoth black holes sometimes shell out enough material to form whole new stars, in the same way that planet-sized fragments are expelled from the accretion disk. Even more surprising, some of them descend into deep space, far beyond the galaxy of their origin.
According to a 2018 study published in the journal Nature, supermassive black holes not only create new stars, but also control how many stars a galaxy has which directly affects how quickly star formation stops. She goes. Star formation in galaxies appears to be slow, with tiny — in a sense, tiny — black holes at the center.
6. It Is Possible to Gaze Into the Void.
The new Event Horizon Telescope, powered by nine of the world's highest-resolution telescopes, recently captured images of the event horizons surrounding two black holes for the first time. The first is our own Sgr A*, and the second is Messier 87, a supermassive black hole 53 million light-years away. The latter image, now dubbed Powhey, stunned astronomers in April 2019, but the photo session also sparked astronomers' interest in ongoing questions about what black holes look like and the mind-bending physics laws Extended.
7. Yet Another Black Hole Brain Teaser
South African astronomers have recently discovered a region of distant space where supermassive black holes in many galaxies are aligned in the same direction. That is, their gas emissions all appear to be synchronous by design. Current theories are unable to explain how black holes as far away as 300 million light years appear to cooperate. According to the researchers, this is possible only if these black holes are moving in the same direction, which could have happened during the formation of galaxies in the early universe.
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