The universe and atmosphere never fails to amaze scientist and people of the world. We have learned about the many theories and facts that makes us understand the universe significantly better, but there is still a lot of unidentified answers and things that may be well beyond what our vision is able to capture. Although stars, planets, and comets are all visible when you look past our atmosphere there are objects that we can’t see but are so powerful that’s its capable to swallow in planets. For something to be crossed by the event horizon and in order to escape it needs to move faster than the speed of light which in other words is impossible. As you may have guessed today I will be covering a subject that not only flabbergasts scientist and individuals but is still very unknown and un answered questions that has yet be answered, yes I am talking about the black hole.
What is the Black Hole?
The black hole is a region in space where matter has collapsed on itself causing it to have a large amount of mass being concentrated in an incredibly small area. “A black hole is a place in space where gravity pulls so much that even light cannot get out. The gravity is so strong because matter has been squeezed into a tiny space” (1). Black holes are objects so dense that not even light can escape their gravity. If you could look at a black hole what you really would be seeing is the event horizon. Anything that crosses the event horizon needs to travel faster than the speed of light to get out which is impossible, so in other words once you’re in, you’re stuck.
Who First Discovered the Black Hole?
[bookmark: OLE_LINK1][bookmark: OLE_LINK2][image: ]Karl Schwarzschild is a German physicist and astronomer. In 1916 Karl Schwarzschild used Einstein’s theory of general relativity which was published in 1915 to define a black hole. “In fact, the mathematical foundations of the modern picture of black holes began rather earlier in 1915, with German physicist Karl Schwarzschild solving some important equations of Einstein’s” (7). Karl Schwarzschild theory consisted of him trying out calculations about gravity fields of stars by using Einstein’s theory of relativity. He theorized that If a star could shrink upon itself the gravity would still remain the same and the planets would revolve the same. Later on “American physicist John Wheeler coined the name ‘black hole’ in 1968, and is was one of the most influential scientists in the study of black holes, contributing a vast amount of research to our accepted understanding of black holes today” (8) .
Can the Earth Get Swallowed by the Black Hole?
“Most black holes that we know of are at a safe distance. But there might be rogue black holes drifting through space, gobbling up matter as they go” (6). So like we may think now, there is still a possibility the Earth could still get swallowed by the black hole but if that were to be the case scientist would have probably have figured this out by now. Scientist do have a theory though that “If the Sun were replaced by an equally massive black hole, all the planets would remain in their present orbits, circling the black hole at a safe distance. Life would be impossible without the light and heat from the Sun, but at least Earth would survive. However, if a black hole as massive as the Sun entered our Solar System by some other means, things would be quite different. Planets would be slung away into space by gravitational forces, or they would be ripped apart by the strong tidal forces of the black hole. But thankfully, the chances of this happening are very slim” (6).
How big is the black hole?
Now knowing that the black hole is impossible to leave once entered, this would make you contemplate that the black hole is tremendously big and now you may wonder how big is it really’scientist have said that “Astronomers have discovered what may be the most massive black hole ever known in a small galaxy about 250 million light-years from Earth, scientists say” (4). The biggest black hole is also known as the supermassive black hole that is found in the galaxy NGC 1277. The supermassive black hole is also identified to have the mass of 17billion suns.
How Many Black Holes are There?
[image: ] The Milky Way galaxy itself alone has about 100 billion stars and one out of every thousand stars that forms it has the ability to become a black hole. The universe itself is so large itself that it’s almost impossible to keep count of how many black holes there are. “There are so many black holes in the Universe that it is impossible to count them. It’s like asking how many grains of sand are on the beach. Fortunately, the Universe is enormous and none of its known black holes are close enough to pose any danger to Earth” In total, our galaxy contains some 100 billion stars and 100 million black holes” (5). The nearest black hole is known to be in the center Milky way galaxy with it being twenty-eight-thousand light years away.
In conclusion while scientist is discovering new things constantly and the world is evolving more, there are still a lot of things that we are un aware off and still haven’t been able to solve or see. Scientist are understanding new things endlessly, and in the world we live in today not only do we have much more resources and gadgets to use, there is adequately a generous amount of people that are wanting to understand the universe and world we live in today. Don’t ever limit yourself from what you may be able to capture and understand. Throughout this research paper myself, I got a lot to learn that not only made me understand the black hole but make me wonder what else don’t we know about our galaxies, universe, and world.
References
- Dunbar, B. What Is a Black Hole? NASA (2015). Available at: https://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/k-4/stories/nasa-knows/what-is-a-black-hole-k4.html. (Accessed: 25th February 2019)
- KARL SCHWARZSCHILD. Edwin Hubble – Important Scientists – The Physics of the Universe Available at: https://www.physicsoftheuniverse.com/scientists_schwarzschild.html. (Accessed: 25th February 2019)
- HubbleSite – The Telescope – Hubble Essentials – About Edwin Hubble Available at: http://hubblesite.org/reference_desk/faq/answer.php.id=62&cat=exotic. (Accessed: 25th February 2019)
- Howell, E. Monster Black Hole Is Biggest Ever Found. Space.com (2012). Available at: https://www.space.com/18668-biggest-black-hole-discovery.html. (Accessed: 25th February 2019)
- HubbleSite: Black Holes: Gravity’s Relentless Pull interactive: About This Site: Encyclopedia. HubbleSite – The Telescope – Hubble Essentials – About Edwin Hubble Available at: http://hubblesite.org/explore_astronomy/black_holes/encyc_mod3_q7.html. (Accessed: 25th February 2019)
- [email protected]. ESO Supernova. ESO Supernova Available at: https://supernova.eso.org/exhibition/1219/. (Accessed: 26th February 2019)
- Blundell, K. M. (2015). Black holes: A very short introduction Oxford University Press.
- Rounded Two | Home Available at: http://ffden-2.phys.uaf.edu/212_fall2003.web.dir/daniel_barnes/page2.htm. (Accessed: 26th February 2019)
