space is a pretty dark place but even some areas are darker than anothers
Have you ever heard of a black hole? You might well have done.
But we are not talking about a hole in the ground, we are talking about the ones that astronomers believe exist in our gigantic Universe
Despite their name, scientists believe that there is a lot more to these objects. So what exactly is a black hole?
One Star's End is a Black Hole's Beginning
Most black holes form from the remnants of a large star that dies in a supernova explosion
(Smaller stars become dense neutron stars, which are not massive enough to trap light.)
When a large star runs out of fuel it can no longer support its heavy weight.
The pressure from the star's massive layers of hydrogen press down forcing the star to get smaller and smaller and smaller.
Eventually the star will get even smaller than an atom
Imagine that for a moment, an entire star squashed up into less space than a tiny atom.
How can something get smaller but retain the same amount of mass
It is really quite simple. If you take a sponge the size of a soda can, you can easily squish it in your hands until it is completely covered
But here is the interesting part. If you make something smaller by squishing it
its gravity becomes much stronger
Imagine then, if you squish a star into the size of an atom how powerful its gravity would become.
A black hole's gravity becomes so powerful that anything
including light that gets too close, gets pulled in.
That's right, not even light can escape the grasp of a black hole
WHATEVER happen in a black hole stay in a black hole
