25+ Interesting Facts About Black Holes

1. Black holes are formed when the matter of a dying star presses into a tiny space. Due to this collection of a large amount of matter in little space, the black hole contains excessive gravitation force that nothing (even light, the fastest object) can pass through it.
2. Subatomic particles can escape from black holes. Just before reaching the event horizon, these tiny particles accelerate close to the speed of light and manage to move outside the black hole’s axis of rotation. (Source)
3. The fastest spinning supermassive black hole is present at the center of the galaxy NGC 1365. This black hole is spinning at 84% of the speed of light. (Source)
4. According to a study in 2006, a black hole (GRS 1915+105) is spinning between 950 and 1,150 times per second. The speed of this black hole near the solar system is almost the maximum possible spinning speed.
5. The sun cannot change into a black hole due to its small size. The smallest black holes are remnants of stars, more than three times the size of the sun.
6. According to the latest discovery, a supermassive black hole at the center of a galaxy is giving birth to stars in at least four neighboring galaxies. These galaxies are more than 1 million light-years away from that black hole. This black hole is doing so by turning gas into stars. (Source)
7. According to estimates, supermassive black holes are at the center of every large galaxy. The black hole at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy is Sagittarius A*. 

   

   There is a black hole in the center of Milky Way Galaxy

   
   
8. There are smaller black holes (stellar) the size of a city but with a mass of more than three times the sun. They can also be huge (supermassive black holes) with a mass equal to 1 million suns (or even more).
9. The smallest known black hole is only 15 miles (24 km) in diameter and 3.8 times the mass of the sun. (Source)
10. The largest black hole ever discovered is 40 billion times more massive than our sun. It is 22 billion light years away from the earth. (Source)
11. Black holes can grow constantly by consuming gas and stars in their vicinity. If pairs of stars move too close, the supermassive black hole will capture and swallow single stars from these pairs.
12. There is almost no chance of the earth falling into a black hole. It is because there is no black hole close enough to earth (and the solar system) to cause such gravitational pull. (Source)
13. The closest black hole to earth is V616 Monocerotis, which is 9 to 13 times the mass of the sun. This stellar black hole is 3000 light-years away from earth. Comparatively, the black hole in the middle of the Milky Way Galaxy is 27,000 light-years away from earth. (Source)
14. Black holes are invisible due to the absence of light. Scientists can only know about them with the impact they create on their nearby matter.
15. Scientists directly observed and photographed the first-ever black hole in April 2019. This image was the result of the collective efforts of more than 200 astronauts from around the world. This picture was taken from the Event Horizon Telescope (a collection of 8 radio telescopes). (Source)
16. The most efficient way to generate energy from a mass is to drop this mass into a black hole. Rotating black holes can release up to 42% energy of an object. (Source)
17. According to a researcher, a person falling into a black hole can pass billions of years in just a few minutes. Due to this, black holes are considered a solution to time travel. (Source)
18. According to a hypothesis, dark matter is the product of primordial black holes that were formed at the time of the big bang. (Source)
19. Apart from neutron stars, small black holes can also produce high-energy jets of matter. It is also supposed that supermassive black holes also generate these jets. (Source)
20. Cygnus X-1 is the 1^st black hole to be discovered. It was identified in the early 1970s. This black hole is 6,000 light-years away from earth. (Source)
21. In 2017, scientists discovered the farthest known supermassive black hole in the universe. This black hole is 800 million times the mass of our sun.

    

    Farthest supermassive black hole was discovered in 2007
    
    

22. According to new research, a supermassive black hole at the center of a galaxy can’t eat its entire host galaxy. (Source)
23. A supermassive black hole is producing a gaseous fountain in space thanks to its gravitational and electromagnetic forces. (Source)
24. According to the theory of Hawking radiation (presented by Stephen Hawking in 1974), a black hole doesn’t remain forever. It evaporates with time after dispersing its mass. (Source)
25. There is no way to know what happens with the objects that fall inside the black hole. But there are various theories and speculations regarding this matter. The most accepted theory is that anyone (or anything) that falls in the black hole just dies (or destroys).
26. But not everyone is pessimistic about black holes. Stephen Hawking (and other proponents of multiverse theory) think one can reach another universe after falling into a black hole. However, there is no way to return to the previous universe. (Source)
27. Another theory predicts that a black hole ends in a white hole. Everything that enters a black hole makes its way out through a white hole on the other side of the black hole.
28. According to the mathematician Roy Kerr, one can live a normal life in a specific type of black hole that does not produce singularity. This type of black hole is named after him, Kerr black hole.