Black holes
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What Is a Black Hole?
An artist's drawing a black hole named Cygnus X-1. It formed when a large star caved in. This black hole pulls matter from blue star beside it.Credits: NASA/CXC/M.WeissAn artist's drawing shows the current view of the Milky Way galaxy. Scientific evidence shows that in the middle of the Milky Way is a supermassive black hole.Credits: NASA/JPL-CaltechThis image of the center of the Milky Way galaxy was taken by the Chandra X-ray Observatory.Credits: NASA/CXC/MIT/F.K. Baganoff et al.Sagittarius A* is the black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy.Credits: X-ray: NASA/UMass/D.Wang et al., IR: NASA/STScI
A black hole is a place in space where gravity pulls so much that even light can not get out. The gravity is so strong because matter has been squeezed into a tiny space. This can happen when a star is dying.
Because no light can get out, people can't see black holes. They are invisible. Space telescopes with special tools can help find black holes. The special tools can see how stars that are very close to black holes act differently than other stars.
How Big Are Black Holes?
Another kind of black hole is called "stellar." Its mass can be up to 20 times more than the mass of the sun. There may be many, many stellar mass black holes in Earth's galaxy. Earth's galaxy is called the Milky Way.
The largest black holes are called "supermassive." These black holes have masses that are more than 1 million suns together. Scientists have found proof that every large galaxy contains a supermassive black hole at its center. The supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy is called Sagittarius A. It has a mass equal to about 4 million suns and would fit inside a very large ball that could hold a few million Earths.
How Do Black Holes Form?
Stellar black holes are made when the center of a very big star falls in upon itself, or collapses. When this happens, it causes a supernova. A supernova is an exploding star that blasts part of the star into space.
Scientists think supermassive black holes were made at the same time as the galaxy they are in.
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The first image of a black hole shows a bright ring with a dark, central spot. That ring is a bright disk of gas orbiting the supermassive behemoth in the galaxy M87. The spot is the black hole's shadow.
EVENT HORIZON TELESCOPE COLLABORATION
Answer the questions
- Can you explain what black holes are?
- How are they originated?
- When were they discovered?
- When was the first picture taken?
- What's the size of one of them?
- Is light also affected by black holes?
- Can we see what there is inside one of them?
Write down a summary using about 80-100 words. Include conditionals, passive voice and reporting verbs.