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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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The Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory is a NASA spacecraft with telescopes designed to study gamma ray bursts—the most powerful explosions in the universe, which result from supernova explosions during the formation of neutron stars and black holes. NASADespite fears of creating black holes, the Large Hadron Collider produces collisions with energies of 13.6 trillion electronvolts, about one million times smaller than the energy needed to create the lightest possible black holes. SciShowHow Robert Oppenheimer determined when neutron stars become black holesBuilding on the work of Richard Tolman and George Volkoff, Oppenheimer reasoned that, once massive enough, a hypothetical, star-sized atomic nucleus would be unable to stave off gravitational collapse with neutron degeneracy—quantum pressure—alone. The mathematical model estimated the maximum mass of a non-rotating neutron star, known as the Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff limit. Big ThinkWhy quantum mechanics keeps gravity from collapsing neutron stars into black holesAccording to the Pauli exclusion principle, certain particles, such as neutrons, are forbidden from occupying identical states within a system. Like tennis balls tightly packed together, neutrons exert a resistive pressure against this compression—neutron degeneracy pressure—which can help prevent gravitational collapse. (Some readers may experience a paywall.) ForbesMars' 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 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 OfficialNothing 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.comAntimatter was discovered by examining debris from collisions between atmospheric gases and cosmic rays—high-energy particles that travel near the speed of light and are produced by stars, supernovae, and supermassive black holes. University of ChicagoDespite 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. ScienceClicMore than 40 quintillion black holes are estimated to exist in the universe, including about 100 million in the Milky Way, each with masses up to hundreds of times that of the sun.Cosmic objects so massive light can't escape, black holes have fascinated scientists and the general public alike since being hypothesized by Albert Einstein more than a century ago. 1440Quasars are extremely luminous cores of distant galaxies, powered by supermassive black holes that consume as much as 100 Earth masses of gas and dust per minute.Quasars are extremely luminous active galactic nuclei powered by supermassive black holes. They are among the most distant and energetic objects known in the universe, emitting up to a thousand times the energy output of the Milky Way. Quasars are believed to be formed when a galaxy collides with another galaxy, causing the gas and dust in the galaxies to fall into the supermassive black holes at their centers. As the gas and dust fall into the black holes, they are heated to extreme temperatures and emit vast amounts of radiation. KurzgesagtAccording to the physics of black holes, our 4D reality may be a hologram—a projection of information coded on a 2D surface on the edge of the universe.Could the universe actually be a hologram projected from a two-dimensional surface? The idea strikes us as absurd, but the math behind it has helped simplify many long-standing physics problems, including the black hole information paradox which asks how a universe in equilibrium can allow for matter-crushing black holes. Explore the ideas behind this mind-bending hypothesis with this complex, fascinating video lecture. PBS Space TimeStudying '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. Business InsiderNearly 50 years before the first observational evidence, a soldier fighting on the Eastern Front in World War I found a mathematical solution to Einstein's equations that suggested the existence of black holes.Astronomy provides a brief but meaty history of black holes, from theory to actual imagery. As mysterious as their name suggests, black holes have fascinated and captivated physicists and astronomers. From the initial correspondence between physicists Albert Einstein and Karl Schwarzschild that predicted black holes to the 1964 discovery of Cygnus X-1, black holes continue to fascinate us. 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 MagazineResearch suggests that about 1% of all matter in the universe is locked inside black holes, millions of which are likely to lurk undetected near us in space.How many black holes exist around the cosmos right now? To get an exact count of the elusive celestial objects, astronomers depend on theoretical calculations and estimates. Their models have determined black holes number near 10 million, and that 1 percent of the universe's matter is currently inside them. Try to wrap your head around their calculations in this article. 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 AmericanThe masses of celestial objects can be determined by analyzing their orbits, observing how they bend light, or measuring their brightness. IFLScienceStars hold off gravitational collapse with the energy produced in nuclear reactions in their core, but when massive stars run out of fuel for these reactions, runaway collapse can produce a black hole. But Why?LIGO 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 WorldAttempts 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 ScientistMassive 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 everythingThis interactive concisely describes many highly complex theories ranging from quantum gravity and black holes to dark matter and energy. Supplementary resources, key questions, and possible solutions accompany each description. As of 2026, no developed theory provides an accepted explanation of all observed phenomena in the universe at all scales. 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 PodcastThe 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. 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.comNeutron stars, the remains of some massive stars after they explode in a supernova, are the densest directly observable objects in the universe.Black holes may get more attention, but neutron stars are deeply fascinating as well as deeply weird. As big as a medium to large city, neutron stars develop when a star loses all its fuel and collapses. Not having enough mass to form a black hole, neutron stars instead turn into incredibly hot and dense objects made of neutrons. And it gets stranger, as shown in this video. Kurzgesagt – In a NutshellThe black hole information paradox comes to an endQuanta Magazine provides a deep dive into black holes and the black hole information paradox. For a very long time it was believed nothing could escape a black hole. Therein lies the paradox. Per quantum mechanics, whatever falls into a black hole should not necessarily be lost forever, and may eventually return. In a landmark series of calculations, physicists have proved that black holes can shed information. Quanta MagazineA 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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