7 Mysterious Facts Looming Around Black Holes
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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There is One of it in Our Own Galaxy
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
It Mysteriously Slows Down Time
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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It Is Ever-Expanding
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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There are 3 Types of Black Holes
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
The First Black Hole was Discovered in 1960
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
It Inspires Science Fiction
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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Black Holes Evaporate
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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