What are black holes?

Black Hole

Black holes’ gravity can bend the path of light as it passes by.

Black holes are regions of space where gravity is so strong that not even light can escape its immense attraction. You can’t directly observe a black hole but you can detect one by the effect it has on the surrounding region of space.

Black holes are formed when a large star runs out of fuel. The massive pressure from the star’s outer layers of hydrogen collapses, compressing the matter into an extremely small space. Imagine the mass of three suns compressed into the size of a city.

If you were able to watch the process in action, you wouldn’t see a ‘black hole’ form. Because the gravity of the collapsing star is so immense, even light given off by the implosion is affected. Without going into terminology and physics, the collapse appears to slow down to a gradual halt on the edge of the event horizon (think of this as a point of no return that nothing can escape). Ultimately, the collapse appears to fade away.

Short answer: A black hole is a region of space so dense that nothing can escape its gravitational pull. If you fell into one you would be transformed into a long strand of spaghetti.

Add Comment