A Quick Look at Black Holes

I’ve read an interesting article a week ago about black holes and if a human can potentially enter a black hole and survive it. I thought, I pick this topic up for my monday article in the community.

TO MAKE THINGS A LITTLE CLEARER, WHAT EVEN IS A BLACK HOLE?

• A place in space where gravity pulls so much that even light can’t get out.
• The gravity is so strong because matter has been squeezed into a tiny space. It usually happens when a star is dying.

WHAT’S THE SIZE OF BLACK HOLES?

• Size could vary from as small as an atom with the mass of a large mountain (mass it the amount of matter, or “stuff” in an object)

• To supermassive blackhole with a mass of 4 million suns. (for example: Sagittarius A – center of the milky way.)

HOW DO THEY FORM?

• Smallest black holes formed when the universe began.

• Stellar black holes are made when the center of a very big star falls in upon itself. This will cause a supernova.

• Supermassive blackholes were made at the same time as the galaxy they are in.

Now to the important question:

COULD A BLACK HOLE DESTROY EARTH?

The answer is: No! 

- Why? (read below)

• can’t go around space eating stars, moons or planets.
• there is none close enough to our solar system.
• if a black hole the same mass as the sun were to take the place of the sun -> Earth and the other planets would orbit the black hole as they orbit the sun now.
• The sun will never turn into a black hole. The sun is not a big enough star to make a black hole.

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I GUESS WE ALL WATCHED SCI-FI MOVIES (FOR EXAMPLE: INTERSTELLAR , MY FAVOURITE) AND SOMETIMES I CATCH MYSELF ASKING WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF WE FALL INTO A BLACK HOLE?

IS THERE MAYBE ANOTHER SIDE?

WILL WE TRAVEL TO A PARALLEL UNIVERSE OR JUST FALL INTO NOTHING?

This blog post was originally published in our Telescope Live Community.

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