It was only recently that researchers from NASA’s Chandra X-Ray Observatory discovered that the one common feature about the early days of the universe was its sprinkling of black holes which grew as rapidly as their host galaxies. What was even more astounding about their discovery was that very young black holes grew a lot more aggressively than had been previously estimated.
Black holes, being what they are, make for an interesting study. After all, who doesn’t want to know about mysterious blobs existing in outer space that literally swallow everything that floats in their direction! And gravity being what it is, what generally goes in does not come out! But there’s more to a black hole than just that. For instance:
Since light cannot escape from a black hole, it’s not always directly observed. So, scientists use the presence of physical debris, which swirls around the hole. Such debris is usually gas and dust and in the course of its swirling, it heats up and emits radiation, which can be detected. The
critical distance at which nothing can escape is called Event Horizon.
Did you know that stars — even those that are up to 15 times bigger than the Sun — have the same destiny? The big stars become black holes, while small stars die, turning into white dwarfs or
neutron stars.
Although black holes have the reputation of having the strongest suction force, they do not bear the capability to absorb the whole universe, as you might have expected.
A giant elliptical galaxy in the constellation Virgo is believed to house the largest known black hole. This hole is about three billion times the mass of the Sun.
The known closest black hole to Earth is Cygnus X-1, located about 8,000 light years away!