Five surprising facts about black holes: what you need to know
Black holes have been fascinating scientists and stirring the imagination for decades, and despite their elusive nature, technological progress has made it possible to reveal their secrets. SSPDaily has prepared five striking facts that will not leave you indifferent.
Numerous black holes are hiding in the galaxy beyond the limits of visibility
It is believed that there are millions of black holes scattered like stars in the vastness of the Milky Way. However, due to their elusive nature, they are almost impossible to detect directly.
These mysterious dense objects with enormous mass and infinitesimal volume bend the fabric of space-time. As long as they do not actively interact with cosmic matter or exert gravitational influence on nearby stars, these hidden space giants remain invisible.
Once in the clutches of a black hole, it is impossible to escape
Getting too close to a black hole will eventually lead to irreversible entrapment. Whether it's a wandering star, a photon of light, or even a human being, anything that approaches the black hole's event horizon is trapped, and there is no way out. Scientists call this critical threshold the event horizon.
A star-sized black hole will turn you into spaghetti
The intense fluctuations in the gravitational field of a black hole, especially in the immediate vicinity of it, can subject you to extreme stretching. If you were to fall into a star-sized black hole, your legs would experience a much stronger gravitational pull compared to your head, causing them to lengthen extremely, a process aptly named "spaghettification." Consider this a gentle warning to keep a safe distance from star-sized black holes.
From microscopic to massive
Scientists believe that black holes are of different types: primary, stellar mass, medium mass, and supermassive. It is assumed that hypothetical primary black holes were formed shortly after the Big Bang, resulting from the physics of early cosmic structures. Stellar-mass black holes, on the other hand, are widespread and are formed mainly as a result of the explosive destruction of massive stars.
Medium-mass black holes occupy an intermediate position and have masses ranging from hundreds to thousands of solar masses. Finally, the centers of galaxies are dominated by supermassive black holes, whose volume ranges from hundreds of thousands to billions of solar masses.
Witnessing the incredible
In 2019, the Event Horizon Telescope, which is supported by the US National Science Foundation, captured the first historical image of a black hole called M87*. This black hole is the mass record holder among all known black holes, exceeding the mass of the Sun by 6.5 billion times. In 2022, another incredible image was obtained - of a black hole located in the center of the Milky Way and known as Sgr A.
