Black holes are some of the most mysterious and mind-blowing objects in space. Let’s dive into the incredible world of black holes with these 10 amazing facts!

1. Black holes are invisible, but we can “see” their effects.

You can’t actually see a black hole because no light can escape from it.

Scientists study the movement of stars and gas near black holes to figure out where they are.

In 2019, the first picture of a black hole was taken using the Event Horizon Telescope, showing the shadow of one in a glowing ring of gas!

2. Black holes come in different sizes.

• Stellar Black Holes form when a massive star collapses. They’re small but incredibly dense.
• Supermassive Black Holes are millions to billions of times heavier than the Sun and sit at the centre of galaxies.
• Primordial Black Holes might have formed during the early universe and could be as small as an atom but still very dense.

3. Black holes are not “cosmic vacuums”.

While they have strong gravity, black holes don’t “suck” everything in like a vacuum.

Objects have to get close to the black hole’s edge (called the event horizon) to be pulled in.

4. Time slows down near a black hole.

Black holes warp space and time.

If you got close to one, time would pass much slower for you compared to someone far away.

This is called time dilation, a concept from Einstein’s theory of relativity.

Discover more about black holes!

5. Black holes can be found in the middle of galaxies.

Almost every large galaxy has a supermassive black hole at its centre.

The one in our Milky Way is called Sagittarius A*, and it’s about 4 million times the mass of our Sun.

6. Black holes can grow by “eating”.

Black holes grow larger when they pull in nearby gas, stars, or even other black holes.

When this happens, the material spiralling into them creates a super bright light, forming something called a quasar.

7. They can “spaghettify” you.

If you fell into a black hole, its gravity would pull more strongly on your feet than your head, stretching you out into a long, thin shape like spaghetti.

Scientists call this spaghettification!

The smaller the black hole, the worse the spaghettification.

Don’t worry though, the nearest one is quadrillions of miles away.

8. Black holes are like giant recycling bins.

When black holes swallow stars and gas, the energy doesn’t just disappear.

Some of it gets flung back into space in massive jets of radiation, helping to shape galaxies.

9. Some black holes could be wormholes.

Some scientists think black holes might connect to other parts of the universe through wormholes, tunnels that could lead to different places in space or even other universes.

It’s still a big mystery.

10. They hold secrets about the universe.

Studying black holes helps scientists understand gravity, time, and how galaxies form.

They could even reveal clues about the beginning of the universe!

Black holes may sound a bit scary, but they’re also some of the coolest things in space. They teach us so much about the universe we live in! What’s your favourite fact about black holes?