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Black HolesBlack holes are locations where spacetime is bent so severely that nothing can escape. They form when massive stars can no longer support themselves with the energy released in nuclear reactions. The resulting runaway collapse compresses the star's core into a region of enormous gravitational pull while ejecting most surrounding material in a massive supernova. This explosion produces elements that comprise up to 73% of the human body's mass.
The existence of black holes was predicted in 1916 by Albert Einstein's theory of gravity—general relativity—which described the universe as having an underlying fabric that curves in the presence of mass and energy. With enough of either, the warping can become so extreme that anything traveling within a certain distance of the region, including light, becomes trapped. This boundary of no return is the event horizon. With no light able to leave this region via emission or reflection, everything within it appears black.
Scientists estimate that there are 40 quintillion black holes in the universe, which are categorized into three types—supermassive, intermediate, and star-sized—based on their mass. Although not directly observable, their presence can be inferred based on their gravitational influence on nearby objects. Black holes serve as natural laboratories for testing various models in theoretical physics and are theorized to play a significant role in galactic formation and evolution.Explore Black Holes
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Mars' orbit may provide evidence that dark matter is made of primordial black holesPhysicists at MIT have found that, statistically, one such microscopic black hole should pass through the solar system every decade, which they predict would introduce a detectable wobble in Mars' orbit. Such black holes would have formed in the early universe from collapsing gas clouds and scattered as the universe expanded. Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyBlack holes form from the collapse of massive stellar cores due to gravityOver time, less energy is released from the cores of massive stars as heavier elements are created through fusion. Once iron has been fused, energy is consumed rather than created, and runaway collapse creates a dense enough region where the stellar core existed to warp spacetime into a black hole. But Why?Black holes do not 'suck' matter and energy in like a vacuum cleanerDespite its immense magnitude, the force of gravity exerted by black holes acts in the same way as provided by stars and planets, allowing objects to maintain stable orbits around them. Even in cases where tidal forces and friction cause objects to change their orbit and fall towards a black hole, they are more likely to glance by, be whipped around, and get ejected rather than absorbed. Big ThinkTry to catch the 'sound' of black holes in gravitational wave detector dataIn "Black Hole Hunter," users try to listen for gravitational wave signals from black holes in four sample data files that include substantial background noise. With each level, learn more about black holes while being faced with ever-quieter signals. Black Hole HunterBlack holes can disrupt the formation of galaxies A team of astronomers in Munich detected a gas cloud being stretched and torn apart by the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, preventing matter from coalescing into new stars. Energy released from siphoned gas produced warm winds that may also prevent surrounding gas from coalescing. Science ChannelTime seems to stop for objects at the event horizon of black holesAt that location, the warping of space-time is so severe that the entirety of an object's space-time motion is solely through space, leaving it immobile in the time dimension. Faraway observers looking at the object would see it appear frozen before slowly dimming and reddening. NASAWhen they merge, black holes release multiple solar masses of energyThe energy emanates outward in the form of gravitational waves, which can be detected at observatories like LIGO. After merging, it is impossible to determine the characteristics of the two black holes that merged to create it. NOVA PBS OfficialSupermassive black holes create pressure waves, detectable as extremely low soundsSpace is largely silent because it lacks a medium for sound waves. Some Mars rovers capture sounds of wind, though the sounds are too low to hear. Through sonification, astronomical data can be translated into hearable sounds for broader engagement. Live ScienceNothing can enter white holes—the opposites of black holesAlthough a mathematical possibility according to general relativity, there is no observational evidence for these objects, which would endlessly eject material into the universe via anti-gravity. It is also unclear how they would form or avoid collapsing due to the gravity of the ejected material. Space.comDespite his disability, Stephen Hawking reshaped our understanding of black holesHis theoretical work—especially on black holes emitting radiation, now known as Hawking radiation—challenged long-held ideas. He also brought complex physics to the public through bestselling books like "A Brief History of Time." CosmosHawking suggested studying black holes could reveal truths about the universe's startAfter predicting black holes could evaporate and before undergoing a tracheotomy, Stephen Hawking conducted interviews in his voice, explaining phenomena like black holes and the Big Bang. In this clip, he explains how curiosity drives humans to become “masters of the universe.” BBCHawking radiation shows black holes slowly evaporate through quantum effects.Hawking radiation is Stephen Hawking's theoretical prediction that black holes emit radiation and eventually evaporate. Applied to known black holes, their radiation is so weak that it would take vastly longer than the current age of the universe for them to disappear. ScienceClicStudying 'sonic' black holesIf a fish screams as it falls down a cascading waterfall accelerating to ridiculous speeds, will his fish friends above hear him scream? This analogy, odd as it is, has become an essential tool in the astrophysicists kit for learning how enigmatic black holes operate. Lab experiments mirroring the so-called sonic black hole have achieved insights for their cosmic counterparts. Read how it works in this brief piece. Quanta Magazine13 unanswered questions about black holesHere's a quick rundown on black hole basics, the cosmic enigmas digesting massive swaths of the universe and destabilizing our fundamental ideas of space, time, and matter. Learn how they got their name, what happens in the unfortunate instance you fall into one, and more with this list of 13 questions about black holes. MediumExplaining 'impossible' black holesWhen stars collapse, the black holes they form can have the mass of either 50 suns or over 120—but current models claim strongly that no black hole should have a mass that falls in between that range. But in 2019, gravitational wave observatories detected two within it: one at 66 solar masses, the other at 85. The discovery disrupted established science and left researchers questioning the Standard Model of physics. Symmetry MagazineListen to the pair of colliding black holes detected by LIGOAs ripples in spacetime, gravitational waves do not produce sound, which is the perception of specific vibrations in matter (e.g., vocal cords vibrating air molecules). The "chirp" of gravitational waves comes instead from converting the spacetime ripples into sound waves that the human ear can hear. LIGO LabThere may be as many as four types of black holes, categorized by their massThree types are known to exist: stellar mass black holes, supermassive black holes, and intermediate black holes. A fourth type—micro black holes—is theoretical and would have the same mass as Mount Everest in a space the size of an atom. NOVANeil deGrasse Tyson explains wormholes and black holesMuch of the film Interstellar is centered on the existence of a wormhole and black hole, which happen to be two of the most perplexing things in the universe. Astrophysicist and StarTalk Radio host Neil deGrasse Tyson explains how wormholes and black holes work in real life in this two-minute video. YouTubeAlbert Einstein's equations predicted black holes decades before their discoveryFor nearly 50 years, scientists dismissed black holes as implausible oddities, despite solutions to the equations indicating their existence. But the 1970s discovery of intense X-rays from Cygnus X-1 and its massive hidden companion flipped the consensus. Astronomy MagazineCygnus X-1 helped scientists confirm black holes are real and measurable phenomenaThe 1964 discovery of Cygnus X-1 provided the first strong candidate, but it took decades—and a famous bet between Stephen Hawking and Kip Thorne—before scientists were certain it was a black hole. Hawking's thumbprinted concession was delivered after breaking into Thorne's office. Astronomy MagazineThere are likely millions of small black holes lurking undetected near us in spaceBecause black holes are so hard to spot directly, astronomers rely on models of galaxy and star evolution to estimate their population. A recent study used simulations and galactic data to show that about 1% of all matter in the universe is locked inside black holes. Space.comThe mysterious origins of the universe’s biggest black holesThink you know everything about black holes? You might be surprised. Thought of as massive vacuum cleaners sucking up everything in their cosmic path, black holes actually accrete matter at an incredibly slow pace. Yet, some black holes existed when the universe was only a few billion years young. Learn more in this BBC report. BBCBlack holes 101At the center of our galaxy, a supermassive black hole churns. Learn about the types of black holes, how they form, and how scientists discovered these invisible, yet extraordinary objects in our universe. This three-minute video from National Geographic tutors the viewer on the basics regarding the universe's most mysterious residents. National GeographicHow black holes formDon’t let the name fool you: A black hole is anything but empty space. Rather, it is a great amount of matter packed into a very small area - think of a star ten times more massive than the Sun squeezed into a sphere approximately the diameter of New York City. NASABlack holes are formed from massive stars collapsing under their own gravityThis creates a region where spacetime curves infinitely, known as a singularity. Black holes' intense mass and energy allow them to trap light, distort time and space, and present challenges with reconciling Einstein's theory with quantum mechanics. Scientific AmericanWatch a simulation of a collapsing star becoming a black holeWhen a massive star can no longer release enough energy through fusion in its core to fight off gravitational collapse, the dense core collapses first, producing an event horizon that traps light within it, including some light produced within the star at the time of collapse. As more material falls into the growing event horizon, the star will appear to eclipse itself from the inside. ScienceClic EnglishListen to the audiobook version of 'A Brief History of Time'First published in 1988, Stephen Hawking's most famous novel has sold more than 25 million copies in 40 languages. Through non-technical terminology, Hawking discusses the nature of space and time, general relativity, quantum mechanics, gravity, black holes, and cosmology. AudioVox - BooksNew model replaces the Milky Way's central black hole with dark matterA study published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society states that a dense core of fermionic dark matter, rather than a supermassive black hole, could explain both the rapid orbits of stars near the Milky Way's center and the galaxy's large-scale rotation detected in Gaia mission data. Phys.orgGaia mapped two billion stars in the Milky WayUsing geometric parallax, the European Space Agency mission made position measurements accurate to 2.78 × 10⁻¹⁰ degrees, revealing large-scale galactic structure and dynamics. Remnants of ancient galactic mergers were also identified within the Milky Way. Astronomy MagazineLIGO confirmed Stephen Hawking's theorem about black hole surface areasBlack holes are known to grow with increased mass but lose energy during mergers through the emission of gravitational waves. Amid these competing factors, the black hole area theorem—confirmed in 2021 using LIGO data—states that a merged black hole's size cannot be smaller than the combined surface area of its progenitors. Cornell UniversityLIGO made the first detection of gravitational wavesOn February 11, 2016, scientists at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory announced the confirmed detection of ripples in spacetime, which were produced from the collision of two black holes 36 and 29 times the mass of the sun. The detection confirmed that gravitational waves travel at the speed of light, as predicted by Albert Einstein in 1915. Physics WorldAccording to general relativity, gravitational waves are ripples in spacetimeFirst detected a century after Albert Einstein predicted their existence, gravitational waves transmit information about cosmological events by altering the shape of spacetime. Like ripples in water, these waves travel outward and can be detected on Earth, even for objects that do not emit light, such as black holes. PHD ComicsAttempts to 'fix' black hole physics have led scientists to theorize new typesAlong with their spin and charge, mass is used to categorize black holes as supermassive, intermediate, or stellar-mass. However, ongoing research suggests various additional types may exist, including primordials that formed one second into the universe's birth, fuzzballs—tangles of vibrating strings—and gravastars, which have a shell of dense matter around repulsive vacuum energy. New ScientistGeneral relativity describes a singularity as the final moment in timeUsing Penrose diagrams—mathematical structures that compress all of space and time—physicists can observe the path of light and which events can affect one another. The space-time maps help visualize the structure of black holes and describe what happens when objects fall in. VeritasiumMassive objects can significantly bend light to produce gravitational lensingThe theory of general relativity posits that mass and energy bend space and slow down the passage of time. One consequence is that massive objects, such as black holes, curve spacetime to such an extent that light from background sources can loop around them, producing multiple images or ring-like patterns. Space.comCollisions between cosmic rays and atmospheric particles dwarf particle acceleratorsAccording to Einstein's model of gravity, confining immense energy into a sufficiently small region would warp space-time enough to create a black hole. If accelerators actually did create black holes, then trillions more would be produced daily in the atmosphere, where collisions are millions of times more energetic. Einstein OnlineExplore a gallery of astronomical images curated by the European Space AgencyThe collection includes illustrations and images of aurorae, planets, stars, galaxies, stellar nurseries, star clusters, exoplanets, quasars and black holes. Mission photography of astronauts, shuttles and telescopes is also featured. ESAStephen Hawking's condition explainedDiagnosed with ALS at 21 and told he had two years to live, Stephen Hawking went on to change our understanding of black holes and the universe, living 55 more years and defying every expectation. 1440String theory replaces black hole singularities with fuzzballs of tangled stringsBlack holes contain singularities where information about the material that fell in is lost, violating quantum mechanics. Instead, modeled as a bundle of strings, information is stored and slowly released as the black hole evaporates. PBS Space TimeExplore an interactive map of the unified theories of everythingThe map concisely describes many highly complex theories, from those involving quantum gravity and black holes to dark matter and energy. Supplementary resources, key questions, and possible solutions accompany each description. Quanta MagazineThe interaction of quantum fields with black hole curvatures makes Hawking radiationThe classic explanation of Hawking radiation depicts virtual photons emitted from a black hole's event horizon. A more accurate explanation involves null geodesics, Bogoliubov transformations, and scattered quantum field nodes to explain the emission of thermal radiation. PBS Space TimeStephen Hawking's biggest discovery—Hawking radiation—came from a major mistakeHawking radiation may not have been discovered without Jacob Bekenstein first convincing Stephen Hawking that black holes follow the laws of thermodynamics. The graduate student showed that black holes could shrink, setting the stage for Hawking’s most significant contribution. The Disappearing Spoon PodcastStephen Hawking's children's books help make science fun and accessible for kidsStephen Hawking co-wrote "George’s Secret Key to the Universe" with his daughter, Lucy, to introduce young readers to big questions about the cosmos. In the first book, the protagonist rides a comet and discovers that black holes aren’t black. Simon & Schuster BooksThe Hubble Space Telescope made discoveries within our solar system and across the universeThe observatory helped confirm the presence of water on Jupiter's moon, Europa, and uncovered seasonal variations on planets like Uranus. It also observed exoplanets and gravitational lensing, proved the existence of supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies, and detected the accelerated expansion of the universe. BBC Sky at Night MagazineWhat lies inside a black hole remains one of the universe's greatest mysteriesAt the center of black holes is a theoretical point of infinite density called a singularity. Alternatively, one theory suggests a black hole's core could form a Planck star—a mind-bogglingly tiny object just a trillionth trillionth trillionth of a meter in size. 1440The Event Horizon Telescope captured the first photo of a black hole in 2019Predicted by Einstein in 1916, these invisible objects can be indirectly seen through their accretion discs and X-ray bursts. Over 40 million trillion black holes may be scattered throughout the universe. 1440Mapping the universe's 1.3 million quasars Quasars form the core of active galaxies where supermassive black holes devour unimaginable amounts of matter. You can see a map of all 1.3 million of these objects with this 3D map. It was assembled with data from the Gaia spacecraft and shows how the spread of dark matter across space matches that described by the Cosmic Microwave Background. Space.comQuasars are extremely luminous cores of distant galaxiesDiscovered in the 1950s through their intense radio signals, they are fueled by supermassive black holes with prominent accretion disks. The disks emit extreme radiation that heats and expels gas, halting star formation and altering the future of their host galaxies. KurzgesagtNeutron stars are ultra-dense remnants of massive starsWhen these stars exhaust their fuel, they undergo gravitational collapse and smash electrons into protons to create cores full of neutrons with a density equivalent to packing the mass of Mount Everest into a sugar cube. These stellar remnants can spin rapidly, emit powerful radiation, and possess magnetic fields trillions of times stronger than Earth's. KurzgesagtA naked singularity is an infinitely dense point without a black hole's event horizonTheir existence would reveal where Einstein’s theory breaks down and quantum gravity takes over. The prevailing idea—cosmic censorship—suggests these singularities are always hidden behind black hole horizons, shielding the rest of the universe from their unpredictability. Quanta Magazine
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