What is a Black Hole?

Ahoy! Let’s Think! Today we answer the question, what is a black hole?
Black holes are massive objects located in space, often at the center of galaxies. Although we have been learning a lot more about black holes, these space objects are still shrouded in mystery for the most part, with many theories as to what they exactly are and how they come to be. The term “black hole” might make you think of a lot of empty space, but these space objects are far from empty indeed! According to the theory of general relativity, as established by Albert Einstein, black holes can occur if mass gets extremely compact, enough so that it might deform spacetime. In other words, imagine trying to pack an incredibly large amount of matter into a very small area, like trying to fit the content of 500 cargo ships into your closet. Black holes have such a huge mass that even light cannot escape its gravitational pull. Black Holes might form when big stars die, causing a supernova explosion and leaving a dense, massive core behind, which morphs into a black hole due to the action of gravity.
The idea of black holes was first theorized in the late 1700s. In the modern era, it has been possible to observe black holes indirectly, mostly through their effects on other objects around them, such as stars or quasars. The first direct images of a black hole appeared only in 2019 when the Event Horizon Telescope was finally able to capture 4 pictures of one of these mysterious objects, confirming Einstein’s theory of relativity with some additional evidence.
So that answers the question, what is a black hole? That took some thinking!
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