Black Holes: A Mystery of Gravity Black Holes...

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Black Holes: A Mystery of Gravity

Black Holes could be today’s most popular stellar objects. Everyone is fascinated by them. Songs are named after them (see Supermassive Black Hole by Muse). But what is it about these intergalactic mysteries which makes them so cool?

Let’s first consider a star. What makes a star, a star? A star is a plasma that emits light through the universe. The inward pull of gravity in a star is balanced by the outward pressure of nuclear reactions. Further reading on this can be found here.

But this is not the case for a black hole. A black hole is literally like a “hole”, a hole in the fabric of space-time! A black hole is not limited in its gravitational pull. It has an almost infinite amount of gravitation, dragging everything, including light inside of it. Thus the name “black”.

All of this mass and gravitation is condensed down to one single point— a point referred to as a singularity.

But imagine that you were approaching a black hole. Famous astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson explains what would happen here, on his popular show NOVA scienceNOW (a quick, recommended, fun watch).

Whilst approaching the black hole, you would pass by the event horizon, a point of no return. Anything within the event horizon, including light, would not be able to escape. You would then undergo a process called spaghettification where the atoms of your body separate and then gather at the singularity.

Death by Black Hole seems like a pretty cool way to make your exit from the world. Hehe. Just kidding.

Perhaps there might be a black hole in the middle of our own galaxy? And many more? Maybe you can join astrophysicists and go on your own black-hole hunt.