What is a black hole and how is it formed?
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A black hole is a region in space where gravity is extremely strong that nothing, not even light, can escape from within it. The point of no return is called the event horizon, beyond which any object that gets too close is pulled irreversibly into the black hole.
Black holes are formed from the remnants of massive stars that have expended all their nuclear fuel and can no longer produce enough energy to counteract the force of gravity. Without this energy, the star's core contracts under its own weight, becoming extremely dense and hot until the gravitational forces become so strong that the core collapses into a singularity. This is an infinitely dense point at the center of the black hole, where the laws of physics as we know them break down.
Black holes can also merge with other black holes, creating even larger black holes. And scientists theorize that there may be supermassive black holes at the centers of some galaxies, formed by the merging of many smaller black holes and the accretion of enormous amounts of gas and dust.
Black holes are formed from the remnants of massive stars that have expended all their nuclear fuel and can no longer produce enough energy to counteract the force of gravity. Without this energy, the star's core contracts under its own weight, becoming extremely dense and hot until the gravitational forces become so strong that the core collapses into a singularity. This is an infinitely dense point at the center of the black hole, where the laws of physics as we know them break down.
Black holes can also merge with other black holes, creating even larger black holes. And scientists theorize that there may be supermassive black holes at the centers of some galaxies, formed by the merging of many smaller black holes and the accretion of enormous amounts of gas and dust.
A black hole is a region in space where the gravitational pull is so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape. Black holes are formed from the remnants of massive stars that have collapsed in on themselves, known as a supernova. If the star's mass is greater than a certain threshold, called the Chandrasekhar limit, the core will continue to collapse until it becomes a singularity with infinite density and zero volume, surrounded by an event horizon beyond which nothing can escape. Black holes can also merge to form more massive black holes.