NASA Celebrates Black Hole Week 2023: NASA is celebrating Black Hole Week from May 1 to 5, 2023. Black holes are considered the most mysterious cosmic objects in the universe. Many scientists and space organizations are studying black holes and still do not fully understand their phenomena. A black hole is not a hole but a concentration of a lot of matter packed into very small spaces. The surface of the black hole is called the event horizon. This surface is not like the surface of the Earth or the sun. The event horizon is the boundary containing all the matter that makes up a black hole. When a black hole is too dense, the gravitational pull just below its surface, the event horizon, becomes so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape through it.
Is your type tall (maybe even “super big”), dark and mysterious? Memory #BlackholeWeek with us!
Learn about these cosmic objects, share science updates, visualizations and sounds. According to @NASAUniverse and got pulled in: https://t.co/6fYorGK8rd pic.twitter.com/rS1vDyO1Eq
– NASA (@NASA)
May 1, 2023
NASA Black Hole Week 2023: May 1-5, 2023
Image source: NASA
According to data shared by NASA, there are likely tens of millions of black holes scattered around the Milky Way. However, so far we have only identified a few dozen. Those that have been detected are often paired with an interacting star in a way that reveals the presence of black holes in the universe. So NASA will be sharing images of hidden black holes all this week. Black Hole Week was established by NASA in 2019 to study black holes more deeply on social networks.
Welcome #BlackholeWeek! Most galaxies, like our Milky Way, have a black hole at their center. This computer simulation shows what it would look like. At the center is the black hole’s event horizon, where no light can escape. https://t.co/mayS4A7WiA pic.twitter.com/yKmPvuLB7w
– NASA Exoplanets (@NASAExoplanet)
May 1, 2023
The truth about black holes
Here are some interesting facts about black holes:
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Featured |
Truth |
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Nearest |
The closest known black hole, named 1A 06200-00, is 3,000 light-years away. |
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Furthest |
The most distant black hole discovered, in the center of a galaxy called QSO J0313-1806, is about 13 billion light years away. |
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The biggest |
The largest observed black hole, TON 618, has a mass 66 billion times that of the Sun. |
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Smallest |
The lightest known black hole is only 3.8 times the mass of the Sun. It is paired with a star. |
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spaghetti turns |
A practical term that describes what happens when matter gets too close to a black hole. It is pressed horizontally and stretched vertically, like noodles. |
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Turn |
All black holes rotate. The fastest known – called GRS 1915+105 – has a speed of more than 1,000 revolutions per second. |
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Particle accelerator |
Monster black holes at the centers of galaxies can launch particles at near-light speeds. |
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Gravity is the same |
If you replaced the Sun with a black hole of the same mass, the solar system would be much colder, but the planets would remain in their orbits. |
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The explosion of stardom |
This type of black hole is created when heavy stars run out of fuel and explode into supernovae. |
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Not so rare |
Most galaxies the size of the Milky Way have giant black holes at their centers. Our star is called Sagittarius A* (pronounced ey-star), and it has 4 million times the mass of the Sun. |
How to find a black hole?
Because black holes do not emit or reflect light, they are invisible to telescopes. Scientists detect and study black holes primarily based on how they affect their surroundings. NASA shared 4 ways to detect black holes:
1. Black holes can be surrounded by rings of gas and dust, called accretion disks, that emit light at many wavelengths, including X-rays.
2. The intense gravity of a supermassive black hole can cause stars to orbit it in a specific way.
3. When massive objects accelerate through space, they create ripples in the fabric of space-time called gravitational waves. Scientists can detect some of these thanks to the ripple effect on the detector.
4. Massive objects such as black holes can bend and distort light from more distant objects. This effect, called gravitational lensing, can be used to find isolated black holes that are otherwise invisible.
Its #BlackholeWeek, a special week where we celebrate black holes! We can talk about black holes every day, but we still have to mention the rest of the universe. So this is their time to shine… figuratively of course, since black holes don’t emit light themselves. pic.twitter.com/lR9fn9eO4D
– NASA Universe (@NASAUniverse)
May 1, 2023
In fact, there are many things we don’t know about black holes, such as what matter looks like inside their event horizons. However, scientists have discovered a lot about black holes over the past few decades. So if you are interested in black hole events then NASA Black Hole Week is just for you!
Categories: Optical Illusion
Source: pagasa.edu.vn