What is a black hole?
A black hole is one of the strangest objects in the universe. A black hole is an area in space where matter has collapsed in on itself. There is so much gravity (a force which tries to pull two objects toward each other) around a black hole that not even light can escape! The gravity around a black hole is so strong that it sucks in everything around it.
Black holes can be as small as an atom (a tiny particle) or bigger than 100 planet Earths put together!
Can we see black holes?
Black holes don’t reflect light so we can’t see them. They’re invisible. So how do we know they exist? Scientists know they exist by observing the things around the black holes and by the way they affect dust, stars and galaxies nearby.
Special space telescopes can help find black holes. They see how stars that are near to black holes act differently to other stars.
Nobody knows what happens to the matter that gets pulled inside black holes. That part remains a secret.
How are black holes formed?
When stars collapse they can create black holes. These are called stellar black holes.
Once the black hole forms, it continues to grow. Sometimes black holes can merge (join) together.
Event Horizon
The event horizon is a point of no return. It’s a boundary around a black hole. Anything that crosses this boundary gets sucked in...doomed forever!
