Black Holes

Active regions on the Sun. Image credit: NASA/SDO

Jets from black hole in Centaurus A.  Credit: ESO/WFI (visible); MPIfR/ESO/APEX/A.Weiss et al. (microwave); NASA/CXC/CfA/R.Kraft et al. (X-ray)

Black holes are regions in space where the gravitational pull is so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape from them. They form when a massive star collapses under its own gravity after it has exhausted its nuclear fuel. This collapse creates a singularity—an infinitely small point with infinite density—surrounded by a boundary known as the event horizon. Once something crosses this event horizon, it’s pulled irreversibly toward the singularity.

Researchers