All About Black Holes

Black holes are the remains of giant stars that went supernova. Stars generate heat and light because their strong gravity smashes millions of particles together in the core. They can keep doing this for millions and millions of years, but eventually, the star runs out of particles to smash together. What happens next depends on how big the star is. An average size star (such as our sun) will turn into a red giant, then it will shed its outer layers into space and what’s left will slowly cool until it becomes a brown dwarf.

But the biggest stars will become a red supergiant star. Then, instead of just fading away, a huge explosion occurs (known as a supernova). Supernovas are so bright they can be seen from many light years away.    The core of the star has so much gravity it collapses in on itself, forming a mini black hole which quickly eats away the rest of the star, making it bigger.

Black holes have so much mass concentrated in a relatively small space that their gravity is immense. Nothing can escape from the gravitational pull of one - not even light. This is why they are called black holes, becaause they suck in all the light so they appear completely invisible. Astronomers are only able to tell one is there at all by looking at all the stars and interstellar objects nearby. If they look like they are being pulled by something that we can’t see, it might mean that there’s a black hole in the neighbourhood.

It is thought that in the centre of every galaxy, there is a particularly big black hole called a supermassive black hole. These are the remains of  lots of ancient stars right in the centre of the galaxy that have merged together over time. The supermassive black hole in the centre of our galaxy  is called Sagittarius A*.

Let’s imagine you got in a spaceship and went towards a black hole. Eventually you would reach a point called the ‘event horizon’. This is where gravity is so strong that nothing can escape from it, so if you were having second thoughts about your little black hole trip, I’m afraid it’ll be a bit too late by that point, bub. someone watching you through a telescope would never get o see the moment you crossthe event horizon because it would look like time has slowed down the closer  you got to the hole. But to you, in your spaceship, with your co-pilot by your side, it would seem like time was going normally. Not that you would have the chance to notice by that point, mind. You see, here the gravity is stronger at your feet than at your head, so you would be stretched out. This process is called Spaghettification.

If two black holes were to collide, they would either merge together to form a supermassive black hole, or put up a fight so the weakest one be will sent flying away. During this time, the surrounding objects will get pushed away into space at such speed that they could destroy a planet. Adding to this, the spacetime around the hurling black hole could get warped and stretched, which could be a potential hazard to any surrounding things. When the black hole slowly comes to a halt, the stretched matter will probably collapse in on itself, forming another black hole.