Black holes are scary for three reasons.
If you fell into a black hole left over when a star died, you would be shredded.
Also, the massive black holes seen at the center of all galaxies have insatiable appetites.
And black holes are places where the laws of physics are obliterated.
Ive been studying black holes for over 30 years.
In particular,Ive focused on the supermassive black holesthat lurk at the center of galaxies.
Galaxies where the black holes are active are calledquasars.
With all weve learned about black holes over the past few decades, there are still manymysteries to solve.
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Death by black hole
Black holes are expected to form when a massive star dies.
Thats so dense that protons, neutrons, and electrons are no longer discrete particles.
Since black holes are dark, they are found whenthey orbit a normal star.
The first black hole to be confirmed wasCygnus X-1, the brightest X-ray source in the Cygnus constellation.
They are the nearest examples of about10 million that are expected to be scattered through the Milky Way.
Black holes are tombs of matter; nothing can escape them, not even light.
A photograph of a black hole at the center of galaxy M87.
Bigger galaxies have bigger black holes.
Thats like the difference between an apple and the Great Pyramid of Giza.
Massive black holes are dangerous in two ways.
If you get too close, the enormous gravity will suck you in.
And if they are in their active quasar phase, youll be blasted by high-energy radiation.
How bright is a quasar?
Imagine hovering over a large city like Los Angeles at night.
Quasars are the brightest objects in the universe.
Its outer edge moves at half the speed of light.
Like all black holes, the huge ones are shielded from view by anevent horizon.
Time freezes at the event horizon and gravity becomes infinite at the singularity.
The good news about massive black holes is that you could survive falling into one.
The bad news is that the event horizon marks the edge of the abyss.
Nothing can escape from inside the event horizon, so you could not escape or report on your experience.
According to Stephen Hawking, black holes areslowly evaporating.
The scariest objects in the universe are almost eternal.
