Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Baby Black Hole Eats Its Way Into a Monster


Nov. 16, 2010

Astronomers believe they have witnessed the birth of a black hole, a curious anomaly of the universe that is so dense even light cannot escape its gravitational pull, hence black hole. This one began to form in 1979, on the explosion of a giant star which provided the matter ultimately consumed by the hole, aptly illustrating the expression "eat your heart out." The amount of matter sucked into the hole thus far is roughly equivalent to matter five times the size of the sun. The sun is 109 times larger than the earth. The earth would provide only a small appetizer for the black hole, perhaps only a crumb.

Interestingly black holes are actually white (it is the white circle in the center of the photo above.) The reason they are called black holes is because of the extreme density of their gravitational force, which sucks in everything in sight, which mysteriously disappears deep in the space hole, never to be seen again.

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