Types of black holes
There are four main types of black holes known to scientists:
Supermassive black holes or SMBH if you want to be cool! This is the largest type of black hole. They are mostly found at the centre of the largest galaxies in space.
Stellar black holes which are formed when huge stars collapse.
Miniature black holes were introduced by the famous Stephen Hawking in 1971.
Intermediate-mass black holes haven’t really been proven yet but a lot of evidence seems to point to their existence.
Who discovered the black hole?
Scientists were already thinking of black holes way back in the 18th century. John Michell and Pierre-Simon Laplace were amongst them. In 1916, Albert Einstein mentioned them in his general theory of relativity. It wasn’t until 1967 that they were officially named 'black holes' by John Archibald Wheeler.
Famous black holes
Some of the most studied black holes have the most impossible names to remember. Take a look at these:
Sagittarius A is a supermassive black hole and the only one of its kind in the Milky Way.
Centaurus A, Cygnus X-1 and M87 are other names of famous black holes.
Fun facts
- Black holes don’t live forever. They slowly evaporate and return their energy back to the universe.
- Black holes are all very similar but they have different mass and spin differently to each other.
- The centre of a black hole is called a singularity.
