What is a black hole?

Black holes are one of the most mysterious objects in the Universe. They consist of an immense amount of matter packed into a tiny volume, giving them enormous density and gravity. The gravitational pull is so high that not even light can escape, so they are invisible. These objects have puzzled astronomers and physicists for decades - what is a black hole and what do we know about them?

Black hole structure

The black hole structure consists of two significant parts: an event horizon, and a singularity.

A black hole is the point of no return

The event horizon of a black hole is the boundary where the gravitational pull becomes so strong that even light cannot escape.

A black hole is a core of infinite density

The singularity of a black hole consists of huge amounts of matter packed into an infinitely tiny point.

Life cycle of a black hole

Black holes go through unique birth, growth, and death stages.

When large stars die, black holes can form

If a star is large enough at its death, it will supernova and collapse into a black hole.

Hawking radiation will eventually evaporate black holes

Stephen Hawking was made famous for his groundbreaking theory showing that black holes were not in fact completely inescapable.

Properties of a black hole

The strange attributes of black holes have been a long studied question for scientists.

The no-hair theorem

Despite their complications, no-hair theorem states that black holes can be described simplistically.

The information paradox

Black holes create a paradox in the fundamental laws of physics that remains unsolved to this day.

Inside a black hole

Descent into a black hole would result in certain death to us humans due to the high gravitational force. But if we could, what would happen if we traveled into a black hole?

A black hole is Spaghettification: a cosmic stretch machine

If one were to enter a black hole, they would be stretched apart by the force of gravity.

Traveling through time and space

As one approaches a black hole, time and space as we know them break down, and strange affects occur.

A portal to another universe

Black holes have been theorized to contain wormholes, which could serve as a pathway to alternate universes.
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This page was last edited on Wednesday, 26 Aug 2020 at 01:30 UTC