We know a lot about the Universe, but there is much more we have to explore. And the most unexplored type of celestial objects are black holes, which suck everything in their way. So, how can it even form and what are its features? How can it help life on Earth? Let’s find out.
What Are Black Holes?
Black holes are celestial bodies where nothing, not even light, can escape. That’s because of its enormous density, rendering its escape velocity higher than the speed of light. The tremendous force is why black holes cannot be found directly — we need some indirect evidence rather than pure observations.
There are three main types of black-holes:
- Stellar-mass black holes
- Intermediate-mass black holes
- Supermassive black holes
The types are sorted by the object’s mass.
Image Credit: NASA8, Canva
Stellar-mass black holes are only dozens of kilometers across but contain at least a few solar masses. The least massive black hole as of 2008 is XTE-J1650-500, with only 3.8 Solar masses. (Scientific American, 2008)3. However, another potential black hole was found with 2.5 Solar masses, but that might be the most massive neutron star ever discovered. (Meghan Bartels, 2020)4.
Meanwhile, supermassive ones reside in galactic centers. For example, there is a black hole in our galactic center called Sagittarius A*. It weighs about 4 million Solar masses!
How Do Black Holes Form
After reviewing these puzzling objects, it’s time to talk about how they can even form in the first place. This is relatively simple for lightweight ones as it’s a concept that a lot of people know.
When a massive star reaches the end of its life, its core will collapse dramatically in a very short time. That leads to a supernova. There are two possibilities of the star’s future life: Either a neutron star or a black hole. To be a black hole, the star must be more massive than what it takes to form a neutron star: The core compresses itself even further.
But, how about supermassive black holes? We are more unsure of that. One possibility is that stellar-mass black holes and primordial black holes collide and merge into a supermassive one that becomes the center of a galaxy.
Surprisingly, black holes are vital for life to exist. If supernovas didn’t exist, we won’t get essential elements that are heavier than iron, such as iodine. Moreover, supermassive black holes help group materials together to assist the formation of stars and planets.
The Structure
Remember that light can’t escape a black hole? It turns out that all of the black hole’s matter is in a single point! It’s called the singularity and has an infinite density. Space and time break down there due to its influences.
What separates the black hole and the outside world is the event horizon, where the black hole’s escape velocity equals the speed of light. Anything that falls below the event horizon can’t get away, no matter how hard the object tries.
Can you calculate how far the distance between the event horizon and the singularity solely based on the mass is? Well, you can! That’s due to the Schwarzschild Radius that is basically in sync with the black hole’s mass. The interesting fact is that when a black hole swallows matter, its size increases due to the increased escape velocity. Remember that the gravitational pull of an object is closely related to its mass!
Image Credit: Canva
Do Black Holes Glow?
Yes. There is some Hawking Radiation that silently escapes the black hole and forces the black hole to lose some mass. We explained that in the article in the link above. Also, there is another way that a black hole is “glowing”, but it’s not the object itself. It’s the particles around the powerful celestial body.
Remember that the gravitational force of the object is very strong, so other debris orbits very fast. They get fragmented due to the continuous collisions, and they heat up to millions of degrees! The immense heat causes the bright light, and that’s what spots a supermassive black hole’s precise location.
Spaghettification
If an item falls into the gravitational monster, it will suffer from tidal forces greatly. What phenomenon is this? Well, it is called spaghettification due to the severity of the tidal effects. In that case, the object will become very long but extremely thin, like a noodle!
So, that is one of the primary reasons why falling into a black hole is fatal. Luckily, the nearest discovered black hole from Earth is 1,000 light-years away, so you don’t have to worry about being swallowed by one at the moment.
Conclusion
So, we’ve talked about black holes in this article, which are one of the most puzzling objects in the entire Universe. Are there more features of black holes? Let us know in the comments. Learn more about those bizarre objects in the references and know more about the cosmos!
References and Credits
- (2013, December 20). Black Hole Rescue! | NASA Space Place – NASA Science for Kids. Retrieved February 17, 2021, from https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/black-hole-rescue/en/
- (2020, March 16). What Is a Black Hole? | NASA Space Place – NASA Science for Kids. Retrieved February 17, 2021, from https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/black-holes/en/
- (2008, April 2). The Smallest Known Black Hole – Scientific American. Retrieved February 17, 2021, from https://www.scientificamerican.com/gallery/the-smallest-known-black-hole/
- Meghan Bartels. (2020, June 23). Scientists just found the biggest neutron star (or smallest black hole) yet in a strange cosmic collision | Space. Retrieved February 17, 2021, from https://www.space.com/smallest-black-hole-biggest-neutron-stary-mystery-object.html
- (n.d.). Black Holes | Science Mission Directorate. Retrieved February 17, 2021, from https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-areas/black-holes
- (2016, December 15). Black Holes – Introduction. Retrieved February 17, 2021, from https://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/science/objects/black_holes1.html
- Hanneke Weitering. (2020, May 6). Newfound black hole is the closest one to Earth we’ve ever found | Space. Retrieved February 18, 2021, from https://www.space.com/closest-black-hole-to-earth-discovery.html
- Rob Garner. (2020, September 8). What Are Black Holes? | NASA. Retrieved February 18, 2021, from https://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/starsgalaxies/black_hole_description.html
Image Credit: NASA’s Eyes, NASA, Canva