Black holes 2
Black holes 2Black Holes
What are black holes? Black holes are the remains of a massive star that has collapsed and shrunk to a tiny point in space. They have all of the gravity of the star concentrated into a miniscule point many times smaller than the original. Black holes are difficult to see because they are spinning faster than the speed of light. This causes all light to be pulled to them leaving no refractions to be seen by the naked eye. The only way to actually �see� a black hole is through the clues they give off.
Where do black holes come from? Black holes are formed when giant stars run out of fuel and are overwhelmed by their own gravity. When this happens they cannot keep from collapsing. After stars collapse, they start rotating and as they are spinning, their gravity becomes stronger causing them to shrink. As the object becomes smaller, it starts spinning faster and faster. Then the core compacts into a mathematical point with virtually zero volume, where it is said to have infinite density. This is referred to as a singularity. When this happens, escape would require a velocity greater than the speed of light. No object can reach the speed of light. The distance from the black hole at which the escape velocity is just equal to the speed of light is called the event horizon. Anything, including light, that passes across the event horizon toward the black hole is forever trapped.
Using a small black marble as an example to represent the size that the Earth would become if it collapsed and became a black hole, Todd R. Lauer, of the National Optical Astronomy Observatories said, " Black holes are very messy eaters. If you took that marble to an 'all-you-can-eat buffet' allowing it to consume all the matter around it, the feeding frenzy would produce as much radiation as the Sun." Research indicates that black holes may have existed at the beginning of time. Black holes are so dense that not even light can escape. Looking towards a black hole, the stars behind it would appear out of place because black holes distort light. The immense gravitational pull of black holes is thought to be responsible for the swirling masses of stars in spiral galaxies throughout the universe. Gravity in a black hole should be able to pack stars in so tight that the intensity of the stars' light would drastically increase towards the center of gravity. Everything falling into a black hole loses its identity, you couldn't tell if it were a satellite or...
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