A black hole is a region of spacetime where gravity is so strong that nothing�no
particles or even electromagnetic radiation such as light�can escape from it.[1]
The theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass can
deform spacetime to form a black hole.[2][3] The boundary of no escape is called
the event horizon. Although it has an enormous effect on the fate and circumstances
of an object crossing it, according to general relativity it has no locally
detectable features.[4] In many ways, a black hole acts like an ideal black body,
as it reflects no light.[5][6] Moreover, quantum field theory in curved spacetime
predicts that event horizons emit Hawking radiation, with the same spectrum as a
black body of a temperature inversely proportional to its mass. This temperature is
on the order of billionths of a kelvin for black holes of stellar mass, making it
essentially impossible to observe directly.
Objects whose gravitational fields are too strong for light to escape were first
considered in the 18th century by John Michell and Pierre-Simon Laplace.[7] The
first modern solution of general relativity that would characterize a black hole
was found by Karl Schwarzschild in 1916, and its interpretation as a region of
space from which nothing can escape was first published by David Finkelstein in
1958. Black holes were long considered a mathematical curiosity; it was not until
the 1960s that theoretical work showed they were a generic prediction of general
relativity. The discovery of neutron stars by Jocelyn Bell Burnell in 1967 sparked
interest in gravitationally collapsed compact objects as a possible astrophysical
reality. The first black hole known as such was Cygnus X-1, identified by several
researchers independently in 1971.[8][9]
Black holes of stellar mass form when very massive stars collapse at the end of
their life cycle. After a black hole has formed, it can continue to grow by
absorbing mass from its surroundings. By absorbing other stars and merging with
other black holes, supermassive black holes of millions of solar masses (M?) may
form. There is consensus that supermassive black holes exist in the centers of most
galaxies.
The presence of a black hole can be inferred through its interaction with other
matter and with electromagnetic radiation such as visible light. Matter that falls
onto a black hole can form an external accretion disk heated by friction, forming
quasars, some of the brightest objects in the universe. Stars passing too close to
a supermassive black hole can be shred into streamers that shine very brightly
before being "swallowed."[10] If there are other stars orbiting a black hole, their
orbits can be used to determine the black hole's mass and location. Such
observations can be used to exclude possible alternatives such as neutron stars. In
this way, astronomers have identified numerous stellar black hole candidates in
binary systems, and established that the radio source known as Sagittarius A*, at
the core of the Milky Way galaxy, contains a supermassive black hole of about 4.3
million solar masses.
On 11 February 2016, the LIGO Scientific Collaboration and the Virgo collaboration
announced the first direct detection of gravitational waves, which also represented
the first observation of a black hole merger.[11] As of December 2018, eleven
gravitational wave events have been observed that originated from ten merging black
holes (along with one binary neutron star merger).[12][13] On 10 April 2019, the
first direct image of a black hole and its vicinity was published, following
observations made by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) in 2017 of the supermassive
black hole in Messier 87's galactic centre.[14][15][16] In March 2021, the EHT
Collaboration presented, for the first time, a polarized-based image of the black
hole which may help better reveal the forces giving rise to quasars.[17]
Blackness of space with black marked as center of donut of orange and red gases
The supermassive black hole at the core of supergiant elliptical galaxy Messier 87,
with a mass about 7 billion times that of the Sun,[18] as depicted in the first
false-colour image in radio waves released by the Event Horizon Telescope (10 April
2019).[19][14][20][21] Visible are the crescent-shaped emission ring and central
shadow,[22] which are gravitationally magnified views of the black hole's photon
ring and the photon capture zone of its event horizon. The crescent shape arises
from the black hole's rotation and relativistic beaming; the shadow is about 2.6
times the diameter of the event horizon.[14]
Schwarzschild black hole
Simulation of gravitational lensing by a black hole, which distorts the image of a
galaxy in the background
Gas cloud being ripped apart by black hole at the centre of the Milky Way
(observations from 2006, 2010 and 2013 are shown in blue, green and red,
respectively).[23]
As of 2021, the nearest known body thought to be a black hole is around 1500 light-
years away (see List of nearest black holes). Though only a couple dozen black
holes have been found so far in the Milky Way, there are thought to be hundreds of
millions, most of which are solitary and do not cause emission of radiation,[24] so
would only be detectable by gravitational lensing.
