My Science School

A black hole is an area in space where the gravitational pull is so high that even light cannot pass through it. Its gravitational pull is high because a large amount of matter has been stuffed into a tiny space. Due to this intense gravitational pull, a black hole can suck anything near it, including gigantic stars.

How big is a black hole?

Black holes can vary in size, with the smallest called ‘primordial’, being as small as an atom but with the mass of a mountain. The largest of the black holes are called ‘supermassive’. Such black holes have a mass of more than one million suns put together. A third kind of black hole, which is found mostly in the Milky Way, is the ‘stellar’ black hole. This type of black hole’s mass is equivalent to that of 20 suns.

Despite their massive size, black holes are invisible to us because no light can pass through them. The best way to know the location of a black hole I through space telescopes with special tools that observe how the stars close to black holes behave differently from others.

How is it formed?

Each of the different types of black holes forms differently. Scientists believe primordial black holes were formed when the universe began, soon after the Big Bang.

Stellar black holes from when the centre of a massive star collapses upon itself.

Meanwhile, supermassive black holes, according to scientists, are thought to have formed around the same time as the galaxy they are in. The size of a supermassive black hole is relative to the size of the galaxy it is in.

Picture Credit : Google