Black Hole - A Mystery

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Albert Einstein's contribution in the information about black hole is very helpful. His theory of relativity helped us in solving the case of black hole.

Stephen Hawking is another scientist who has given his invaluable contribution in discovering about the origin of black hole. All the information related to black hole is mostly discovered by Stephen Hawking.

Black hole is a cosmic body of extremely high gravity from which nothing can escape. Not even light can escape it’s enormous gravitational power.

The Origin of Black Hole

A black hole is formed when a massive star dies. When all the thermonuclear fuel finishes inside a star, the outer layers of the star are blown away and the gravity collapses. The core of the star becomes unstable.

The force from the other sides makes the dying star of zero volume and infinite density. This is called singularity. The most massive stars- those with more than three solar masses, can become a black hole.

Rest of the stars, of smaller masses become white dwarfs or neutron stars. Black hole cannot be seen directly as they have no light and very small mass. It is observed that a mass of a gas falling into a black hole emits 100 times more energy than a nuclear fusion does.

 

Closest Black Hole to Earth

There are millions of black holes in our universe. Scientists have found a couple of them but recently the closest black hole to the earth was found by using the MPG/ESO 2.2-meter telescope at the European Southern Observatory's La Silla Observatory in Chile.

It is 1000 light years away from earth and is surrounded by two stars that gave away the hiding place of this black hole. Scientists believe that this black hole is “just the tip of an iceberg” as there is a lot left to uncover about this black hole.

This black hole is roughly 4 times the mass of the earth and since it is joined by two stars, it is called a triple system. The name of this star is HR 6819. The truth is that black holes aren’t are but they are hard to find.

 

What Is It Like Inside a Black Hole?

Black hole is not really a hole. Stephen hawking believed that black holes could be a passageway to another galaxy. But nobody can say this for sure. The event horizon that surrounds a black hole would stretch you before you reach the center.

If we fell with our feet first, then our feet will experience much greater gravitational pull than our head. Our body will be stretched without any limits and thus we will be torn apart. So, nobody could ever return from it to tell their experience.

Falling into a black hole would be like a free-fall where you would feel nothing. You would exist and then you just wouldn’t. From the point of view of someone watching from the outside, the view would be completely different.

For a person observing from outside, it would seem like the person is getting redder and dimmer as he gets near a black hole and then it would seem like the person is stuck at the event horizon.

This happens because in a black hole time stands still while space can move forward. Time and space swap roles here. You cannot move in a black hole just like you cannot move backward in time on earth. So, nobody can escape the black hole.

Stephen hawking said that there are multiple universes with different histories. So, in one reality one might fall into a black hole but in another reality, he might come into another universe. It all seems like a movie but this is the reality of the world.

 

What Happens to the Black Hole Ultimately?

Black holes will die but it takes a very long time for them to collapse. The duration of a black hole can be found out using quantum field theory. The lifespan of a black hole depends on its mass.

Lower mass black holes lose their mass more quickly than higher mass black holes. This is because the curvature they create in space is more intense around their events horizons. But even so, it takes a very, very long time indeed.

If a black hole has the same mass as the sun then it would take 10^67 years to collapse. For larger masses, it may take around 10^100 years to collapse. These figures are much larger than the age of the universe that is estimated to be around 10^9 years.

This means that even when the planets and stars disappear, the black holes will survive and will dominate the entire universe. Black holes are the most curious objects in the world and the more we know about it, the more complex it seems to get.

 

Written by - Trishla Gupta

Edited by - Adrija Saha