In News
- A mysterious and intensely bright flash of light coming from halfway across the universe earlier this year had stunned astronomers worldwide.
Key Findings
- The source of the intense beam has now been identified — a supermassive black hole ripping apart a star, pointing directly at Earth.Â
- The jet of light was brighter than 1,000 trillion suns.Â
- Scientists from multiple institutions, including India, helped trace the activity powered by the black hole, 8.5 billion light years away from Earth.Â
About Black Holes
- A black hole is a place in space where gravity pulls so much that even light cannot escape.Â
- The gravity is so strong because matter has been squeezed into a tiny space. This can happen when a star is dying.
- How Do Black Holes Form:
- Scientists think the smallest black holes formed when the universe began.
- Stellar black holes are made when the center of a very big star falls in upon itself or collapses. When this happens, it causes a supernova. A supernova is an exploding star that blasts part of the star into space.
- Scientists think supermassive black holes were made at the same time as the galaxy they are in.
- Visibility:Â
- Because no light can get out, they are invisible.Â
- Space telescopes with special tools can help find black holes.Â
- The gases swirling around actually help in getting their images.
- Size:
- Black holes can be big or small.Â
- Scientists think the smallest black holes are as small as just one atom. These black holes are very tiny but have the mass of a large mountain.Â
- Another kind of black hole is called “stellar.” Its mass can be up to 20 times more than the mass of the sun.Â
- The largest black holes are called ‘supermassive’ and they have masses that are more than 1 million suns together.Â
- SgrA*:
- The supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy is called Sagittarius A.
- It has a mass equal to about 4 million suns and would fit inside a very large ball that could hold a few million Earths.
Image Courtesy: USA TodayÂ
Source: DTE
