They are the darkest objects in the cosmos, as not even light can escape their incredibly strong gravity.
Because of this, its impossible to directly imageblack holes, making them mysterious and quite perplexing.
Despite the name, not all black holes are black.
These supermassive black holes can have the mass of up to abillion Suns.
But that isnt the case for all supermassive black holes.
It’s free, every week, in your inbox.
As it falls towards the black hole, it heats up and becomes incredibly bright.
Another name for the bright black holes at the center of galaxies is active galactic nuclei, or AGN.
Matter swirling into the supermassive black hole at the centre of M87.
The relative brightness of a galaxy across different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum is called its spectral energy distribution.
Composite picture showing how a typical galaxy appears at different wavelengths.
Its not a simple thing to do.
Right now, the astronomical community is still passionately debating the nature of active black holes.
And thats an important step towards shedding more light on the mystery of black holes.
Also tagged with
