Black Hole Basics
You might have noticed a lot of water cooler talk about black holes recently. These mind-blowing monstrosities have sparked the imagination of scientists and citizens alike, and now the first real photograph of a supermassive singularity has been published. We have prepared a little something for you to brush up on your basics. What are black holes? Do they pose a threat? And what would happen to you if you fell into one? Let’s broaden your event horizon!
Black holes were a prediction of Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity. Because of their, well, blackness, they can’t be directly seen. But we can observe the effect their gravity has on the movement of surrounding stars. Then there’s gravitational lensing: massive black holes bend light around them, revealing a distorted view of what’s beyond. In addition, the gas and particles orbiting a black hole at breakneck speed before falling in are superheated, which means they shine incredibly bright. Some of these particles on our side of the event horizon escape and are visible as light, which leads us to our final bullet point.