How the Black Hole Said Cheese?

Scientist released the first-ever image of a black hole, captured by the Event Horizon Telescope, a network of eight linked telescopes on April 10, 2019. This could safely be called the biggest scientific feat of the decade. Before this, every image of a black hole we saw online or in print was an illustration. This image is a direct proof of the existence of black holes. The fuzzy doughnut-shaped ring of gas and dust traces the outline of a supermassive black hole at the heart of the Messier 87 galaxy, 55 million light years from Earth. With a mass 6.5 billion times that of the Sun; it is a humongous black hole.

Black holes are regions in space, where the gravity is so immense that even light cannot escape from their grasp. The boundary around the mouth of the black hole beyond which nothing can escape is called event horizon. It traps everything that comes to this point.

Black holes are formed when giant stars explode at the end of their life-cycle. This explosion is called a supernova. When a star collapse under its own weight, it results in the concentration of a huge amount of mass densely packed in an incredibly small area. Think of a star ten times more massive than the Sun squeezed into a sphere approximately the diameter of Bengaluru. The region is so dense that it warps the fabric of space and time.

Black holes can grow huge as they continue to attract light, dust and gas around them. They can even absorb other stars.

 

Picture Credit : Google