Black holes are places where gravity has become so strong that it overwhelms all other forces. Once something enters a black hole, nothing can escape its gravity, not even light.
2. How do scientists look for black holes in space? Describe what a black hole looks like using one of the different ways of seeing the sky?
Scientists look for black holes in space using telescopes that pick up x-ray, visible light, and radio waves. Using an x-ray telescope, a black hole can be detected by the discovery of a star’s gas being pulled into seemly nowhere. The gas being pulled from the star will form an accretion disk, which also allows for the indirect detection of a black hole. When we see an accretion disk or energy being …show more content…
Using an x-ray telescope the sky may show some energy being pulled into the black hole. The black hole itself will not be visible by its distortion of light will be. Near a black hole the light of a star is bent, due to the black hole’s powerful gravity. The sky around a black hole will look irregular, as light is bent and pulled into the black hole.
4. How are black holes born?
When an object is no longer able to withstand the compressing force of its own gravity, it becomes a black hole. Stellar-mass black holes are born when very massive star run out of nuclear fuel. The star will explode in a supernova and the remains will be a black hole. Scientists know less about supermassive black holes, which live in the centers of galaxies.
5. How do black holes differ from each other? In other words, what types of black holes are there?
Black holes differ from each other in three characteristic properties: their mass, their spin, and their electric charge. Aside from there three properties, black holes are identical. So far, two types of black holes have been discovered: stellar-mass and supermassive. Stellar-mass black holes are a few times heavier than our sun, while supermassive black holes are as heavy as a small galaxy. Recent observation have suggested that there are black holes with masses between that of a stellar-mass or supermassive black