From the different types of singularities found to the strange, explosive ways in which
they're formed, today we look at The Shocking Truth About Black Holes.
Number 10.
Seeing A Black Hole Black holes have caught the attention of scientists
studying the stars for centuries, but until recently, they've never been able to catch
researchers' sight.
These enigmatic regions of spacetime live up to their label as no light can escape the
blackness of their pull.
Because of this, it's not possible for the human eye to directly detect its presence,
even with the assistance of X-rays, light, or other electromagnetic radiation.
Instead, they are found by examining effects commonly associated with a black hole's exceptional
gravitational pull.
So, witnessing events like a star stretching towards a blank darkness, chances are it's
being torn apart by the grip of a black hole.
Number 9.
Our Own Backyard The universe is massive, so it may seem like
black holes are the kind of rare anomaly to be found millions of light-years away in other
galaxies.
One black hole, however, has been found at the center of our very own Milky Way galaxy,
named Sagittarius A* for its proximity near the constellation of the same name.
The discovery came from observing a series of stars orbiting a focal point.
This black hole is a calculated 26 thousand light-years away, and astronomers have figured
out the diameter of Sagittarius A* to be nearly sixty million kilometers.
It's believed that black holes of this size are at the center of most elliptical and spiral
galaxies.
As the great space vacuum steadily sucks in the mass around it, you might be wondering...will
we earthlings get caught in the pull?
Well, worry not.
We may share the same galaxy as this supermassive abyss, but we're still an extreme distance
from Sagittarius A*.
If anything, the presence of this black hole in the Milky Way is beneficial in that it
grants Earth's scientists a closer look and better understanding of their origin, nature,
and purpose.
Number 8.
Celestial Rebirth It might surprise you to learn that different
types of black holes are believed to exist.
Supermassive ones like Sagittarius A* are the size of millions of suns, but the next
step down in size comes in the form of Stellar black holes.
These are formed when monstrous stars, around 20 times the size of our Sun or greater, burn
out of fuel.
Smaller stars don't elicit this type of reaction, instead transforming into a white dwarf or
neutron star, which are incredibly dense but compact stars that give off faint light in
comparison to the larger ones.
Gravity overtakes the naturally maintained pressure of a large, terminal star, the kind
meant to hold its form intact, leading to a collapse.
The resulting effect is a brutal fluster of chaos as gravity flings the layers of the
star into space as the core crumples into itself.
This is what is referred to as a supernova.
The imploding core forms into a singularity, or a space of almost no volume and an endless
density.
Which just so happens to spell the ingredients for a black hole.
Number 7.
Proximity Hazards Studying black holes from Earth is a fascinating
endeavor, though as scientists progress, the allure of a closer look increases.
But like storm chasers pursuing a tornado or hurricane, this would be a greatly dangerous
pursuit in the name of scientific advancement.
Nearing the outer edge of a black hole brings you closer to its gravitational attraction.
This is the black hole's event horizon, or point of no return where no external force
can pluck you from its gravitational grasp.
This barrier isn't all bad, though, as the existence of an event horizon dashes some
of the more common misconceptions with black holes.
As scientists have learned that there's a point to be crossed to enter the fateful tractor
beam of these great, dark phenomenons, they've also concluded that these aren't just endless
vacuums slowly sucking up galaxies.
Particles must be in the black hole's vicinity to be drawn in.
Therefore, the universe as we know it isn't going anywhere soon...at least, not due to
a black hole.
Number 6.
The Ergosphere Prior to reaching the event horizon, if approaching
a rotating black hole, you will find another layer of gravitational pull called the ergosphere.
As the black hole spins, it pulls with it the surrounding spacetime, like a twisted
cloth.
This surrounding region is oblong or pumpkin-shaped depending on the form of the black hole, and
it acts as a type of whirlpool.
Whereas the event horizon is the point of no return, the ergosphere can be escaped...if
an object is moving fast enough, that is.
The closer you get to the event horizon, the more velocity required to break free from
this outer layer.
To make matters even more interesting, One hypothesis from mathematician Roger Penrose
proposes that the energy from a black hole can actually be removed by traveling through
the ergosphere!
Those particles that can force through a spinning abyssal vortex are believed to actually gain
a 20.7% increase in energy.
The removal of this energy, in theory, would lead to a slow in the spin of the black hole
and by association it would shrink the span of the ergosphere, eventually becoming non-existent
should the singularity reach a stand still.
By the same token, though, the more intense a black hole spins, the larger the ergosphere
becomes!
Number 5.
Size Range In total, scientists have identified three
different types of black holes.
Two of these have already been mentioned in this video: Stellar and Supermassive.
For a long time, astronomers believed these were the only two types in existence.
But in the last two decades, researcher have found enough evidence to conclude a third
type exists.
Fitting in between the relatively small sized stellar black holes and gargantuan supermassive
black holes are intermediate-mass black holes.
These forms have a mass equivalent to hundreds of suns, while a stellar black hole is less
than fifty suns and supermassives can have a mass equal to tens of thousands of suns!
It's thought that these intermediate sizes came to be by either the merging of stellar
black holes, the collision of massive stars in dense clusters, or that they are simply
the remnant primordial black holes formed from the Big Bang!
Another type of singularity has been hypothesized in the form of miniature black holes, the
size of which would be smaller than our own Sun.
Also thought to be a product of the Big Bang, these would form from the rapid expansion
matter compressing slower-moving matter.
But this type of black hole has yet to be discovered, and as such remains an unproven,
purely hypothetical phenomenon.
Number 4.
Rules of Time Black holes alter spacetime and should you
ever have the privilege of witnessing something, or someone, enter one, the time-related oddities
of the anomaly will be come quickly apparent.
According to Einstein's theory of general relativity, time is affected by your own speed
when reaching extreme velocities near the speed of light.
This speed is determined often by the intensity of a gravitational pull, and it doesn't get
more intense than with a black hole.
From the perspective of an object surging towards the center of a singularity, time
would continue moving forward at a constant pace, with space and time conjoining into
one forward path.
But from a distance, it would appear as if time is slowing down for the object, slowing
to a near stop at the event horizon, before blinking out of existence entirely due to
an absence of light.
The singularity at that point becomes not just a future destination, but literally the
future for the object, and attempting to slow, stop or reverse course would be the same as
if you tried to slow, stop, or reverse the flow of time.
Number 3.
X-Ray Astronomy The first black hole found and widely accepted
is known as Cygnus X-1 for its location within the constellation for which it shares its
namesake.
It was uncovered in the 1960s thanks to a sub-orbital spaceflight and the use of X-ray
instruments which could detect cosmic X-rays across the universe.
The data extracted from this analysis found that a nearby blue supergiant star twenty
times the size of our Sun was bleeding into a mysterious darkness, producing X-ray emissions
as a result.
This led to the determination that a black hole was the source and the examination of
Cygnus X-1 intensified.
It took years to convince most astronomers to get on board with this conclusion, though.
In 1974, brilliant physicist Stephen Hawking made a wager with peer Kip Thorne that the
cosmic entity was not a black hole.
It took 16 years of studying and accumulating evidence, but in 1990, Hawking finally conceded
defeat as the case for Cygnus X-1's existence strengthened.
Number 2.
What About Wormholes One of the popular topics in science fiction
works is the concept of wormholes.
These are hypothesized to be bridges across the expanse of the universe, transporting
those who enter to regions lightyears away.
The name for these pathways originates from the physicist John Wheeler after exploring
a similar theory conceptualized by Albert Einstein and his assistant Nathan Rosen.
Wheeler compared the expanse of space to the skin of an apple, stating an ant crawling
on the fruit has two choices to continue its journey: either crawl around the surface,
or take a shortcut through a worm-built passage.
The idea is that our universe is wrapped around a higher dimension, referred to as "the bulk",
and by having black holes open on opposite sides of space, their infinite density would
cause them to merge within this "bulk".
Mathematically, this theory has some plausibility, but the trip through such a wormhole is something
no living being could survive, as far as we can tell.
That hasn't stopped them from being used in pop culture, though, as wormholes have been
an essential part of works such as: Stargate, Contact, A Wrinkle In Time, Interstellar,
Star Trek, Doctor Who, Sliders, and even the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Number 1.
First Photo For years, scientists yearned for the chance
to see a black hole and in April of 2019, that wish was finally granted.
By focusing on a pair of super-sized black holes, one of which being Sagittarius A*,
the astronomers eventually found evidence of the otherwise mysterious celestial formation.
Thanks to an array of telescopes spaced out across the globe banning together to act in
unison as one large telescope, along with some intense calculations and supercomputer
processing, the group of scientists were able to capture something magical.
The gas and dust attracted to the black hole heats up to billions of degrees due to the
immense pull of the center, creating a glowing ring of hot matter encircling the three-dimensional
space.