August 31, 2023
By Sonakshi Kandhari
There is a place in space where the gravitational pull is so strong that light cannot escape it. This is a black hole. Dive deep into space and unearth secrets about this mystical space marvel.
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It's called Sagittarius A and is 5,000 light years away from us. This black hole outweighs the sun by a million times.
Image Source: Event Horizon Telescope
Einstein's theory of relativity proposes time dilation, where time slows as objects move swiftly. The black hole's rapid movement stems from its gravitational pull, creating a time-warp effect.
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Like galaxies, even black holes merge with one another and expand in size. It is what has resulted in the creation of super-expansive black holes.
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Stellar black holes form when stars merge; intermediate ones result from mergers between two black holes. And finally, supermassive black holes are found in the middle of galaxies, outweighing the sun by 100,000 times.
Image Source: NASA
Using X-ray astronomy, the first black hole, Cygnus X-1, was spotted in 1960. It is said to be 10 times the size of the sun.
Image Source: Wikimedia Commons
Black holes served as inspiration for the acclaimed science fiction thriller, Interstellar. This movie gives viewers a better understanding of how stars operate close to a black hole.
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As per a theory called Hawking’s radiation, which was conceived by Stephen Hawking, a black hole's mass eventually disperses in space. This phenomenon is also called black hole evaporation.
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