What is a black hole and why is it so mysterious?

Everybody loves to admire the sky with shining little stars. Ever wonder how many stars are there, in our childhood we all tried to count the stars. Between all these shining little stars there is something huge in the sky that destroy the stars but it is not visible to the human eyes from the earth which we call a black hole.

What is a black hole?

A black hole is an area of spacetime where gravity is so strong that nothing can escape through it not even particles or electromagnetic radiation such as light. This idea was first announced in 1783 by John Michell and then Albert Einstein with his general theory of relativity first projected the existence of black holes in 1916.

Cygnus X-1 was the first black hole in the Milky Way galaxy, first image of a black hole was captured by the Event Horizon Telescope in 2019.  

                                                

What does a black hole look like?

Black holes have 3 layers the singularity and the outer and inner event horizon. The event horizon of a black hole is the edge around the mouth of the black hole with constant gravity. The inner region of a black hole, the singularity where the object's mass lies, is the single point in space-time.

 

Why can’t we see black hole?

Gravity is so strong no light can get out so scientists are not able to see black holes the way they can observe stars and other objects. So astronomers must rely on detecting the radiation black holes release as dust and gas are drawn into the thick creatures, but supermassive black holes may be masked by the thick dust and gas around them, which can block the tell-tale releases. As the matter is drawn near a black hole, it rebounds off the event horizon and is thrown outward, rather than being pulled into the maw. Bright jets of material traveling at near-relativistic speeds are formed. Although the black hole remains hidden, these powerful jets can be observed from great distances.

What are the types of a black hole?

Astronomers have identified 3 types of black holes:

1) Stellar black holes: They are formed by the collapse of individual stars which are relatively small but extremely dense. This leads to a huge amount of gradational force that pulls objects around the object, that’s how stellar black holes consume dust and gas from the galaxy to keep them growing.

2) Supermassive black holes: They may be the result of hundreds or thousands of tiny black holes that merge, such black holes are thought to be at the center of almost every galaxy, including the Milky Way.

3) Intermediate black holes: They could form when stars in a cluster collide in a chain reaction. In 2021 astronomers took benefit of an ancient gamma-ray burst to detect one.

4) Binary black holes: It is a system consisting of two black holes in close orbit around each other.

According to the Space Telescope Science Institute, roughly one out of every thousand stars is huge enough to become a black hole. Since the Milky Way encompasses over 100 billion stars, so Milky Way galaxy must harbor nearly 100 million black holes.

The closest black hole to Earth is named "The Unicorn" and is located approximately 1,500 light-years away. The pet name has a double meaning, not only does the black hole candidate exist in the constellation Monoceros "the unicorn", it’s extremely low mass about three times that of the sun which makes it closely one of a kind.

Real photo of a Black hole:

In 2021, astronomers discovered a new view of the giant black hole at the center of M87, displaying what the colossal structure looks like in polarized light. As polarized light waves have a different alignment and brightness associated with unpolarized light, the new image shows the black hole in even more detail. Polarization is a signature of magnetic fields and the picture makes it clear that the black hole's ring is magnetized.

Can we travel through time in a Black Hole?

Still, a black hole is the biggest mystery to us nobody knows what’s inside it or what will happen if anything gets in it, many people think we can time travel if we enter a black hole.

Consider the equation Speed = Distance ÷ Time. The theory of special relativity suggests to Einstein‘s nothing can travel faster than the speed of light, if the speed of an object approaches the extreme limit set by the speed of light, the other variables in the equation start to vary with distances becoming shortened relative to time which becomes extended. Therefore, a black hole with its strong gravitational field could potentially offer a fantastic means to travel through time. Getting close enough to its Event Horizon without being crushed up, by maintaining this “safe” distance you could travel centuries into the future compared to outside spectators, although for you just a few hours or days would seem to have gone.

There is a great Sci-Fi movie on this concept which shows great visuals of what it would look like to be in space and how time bends. The movie's name is “Interstellar”.

According to experts at the center of the Milky Way galaxy, there is a supermassive black hole called Sagittarius A. With a mass equal to that of 4 million suns, the black hole was discovered in 1974. It can be observed in the sky with radio telescopes nearby to the constellation Sagittarius.

What will happen if you enter a black hole?

According to English theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, The fortune of anyone dropping into a black hole would be a painful “spaghettification” an idea popularised by him in his book A Brief History of Time. Unfortunately, nothing can leak the event horizon, not even information, so we will never be able to know for sure what goes on when matter reaches the point of no reappearance.

There is a lot more to know a lot more to study lot more mystery hidden in black holes as science keeps developing riddles will get solved. But there are many complexes needed to resolve this mystery like supercomputer telescopes and many things. But you know you can help the astronomer even if you are not from a science background, as we know a huge organizations like ISRO and NASA constantly invent and discover new things, for that they require material and keep a record of all the things so they require non-Science field people as well. According to a survey this organization use software called SAP to keep a record of all its material supply and all management, So you stand a chance to be a part of a team all you need to know is how to use SAP software, no need to worry about where to start? How to start? Or how much will it cost? Eduvouge is one of the famous institutes that teaches SAP with global certification with the best price and offers. So go and check it out, and be ready to be part of a team in search of a black hole mystery.

 

“Time is a storm in which we all are lost”