Black holes have piqued the interest of astrophysicists, astronomers, and common people alike because of how little is known about them, even to this day.Speculations are made, that supermassive black holes may be related to the creation of a galaxy. This shows they were present right from the stage of the Big Bang, so they are as old as time itself.The idea of something so massive that nothing, not even light, can steer clear of the grasp of its gravity has existed since the 18th century. Since then, many have contributed to the theory about a massive black hole, the culmination of which, we have today. Karl Schwarzschild was the first one to develop a theory on black holes, drawn from Einstein’s theory of general relativity. Although, back then, they were called ‘frozen stars’. The term black hole was first coined by an American astronomer John Wheeler in 1967. At present, general relativity and quantum mechanics are the two dominating theories taken into consideration in the study of supermassive black holes. We estimate that our very own Milky Way Galaxy has around 100 million stellar-mass black holes.The Properties Of Supermassive Black HolesSupermassive black holes are characterized by their extremely dense mass and strong gravitational pull that engulfs all around them.To understand them, it’s important to first establish how they’re formed. According to the theory of general relativity, practically any object can be turned into a black hole if it can be compressed to a minute enough volume. In nature, these objects are stars. It is the dying stars that collapse under their weight, resulting in a supernova explosion. Sometimes, they will turn into a neutron star, left as the dense residue of a star since they are too small. At other times, the all-consuming black holes form.Black holes lead to a distortion of space and time. The compressed ball of mass is much smaller in size than the actual star. In theory, even earth can be turned into a black hole, only the gravitational pull is not as strong. We conjecture that, when many nearby stars collide together at the same time, as they die, they form a supermassive black hole, which is a million times bigger in mass compared to the typical stellar black holes. A stellar black hole is also born similarly, either by a collapse of massive stars, or when massive clouds of gas break down in the early stages of a new galaxy formation. These black holes typically form at the center of the galaxy, dragging every mass, from asteroids to stars, into it because of its gravitational pull.The edge of the black hole is called the horizon, where the magnetic fields, as well as the temperature, are fierce. Any object, even light, coming in contact with the horizon gets immediately pulled inside. Black holes are like a bottomless pit with a hole at the center. As objects get closer to a black hole, time slows down. Even Earth is found to create this effect, but ever so slightly since the gravity is not as strong. Einstein believed time stopped at the very center, which is why it is sometimes referred to as a ‘reverse of creation.’ If you are into science fiction, you know better than to approach an accretion disk, no matter how breathtaking it looks. An accretion disk comprises diffused material orbiting around some gigantic central body. While the disks radiate infrared for young stars or protos, in the case of neutron stars or black holes, it is in the x-ray part of the gamut.Evidence Of Supermassive Black HolesA supermassive black hole has a gigantic impact on the surrounding matter, which helps to locate one and thus gather it as a piece of evidence.While it’s true, you cannot perceive a black hole since it even devours light itself, the dramatic activity on the horizon of the black holes make it easy for scientists to study black holes from the outside since going inside is a little more consequential than just a leap of faith. Black holes are very real, and one piece of evidence is provided by the space telescope Chandra, which picks up glowing x-ray lights emitted by matter as dust and gas, that gets heated up by millions of degrees, as they make their way into the black hole, spiraling through the horizon.A supermassive spinning black hole is the most powerful source and the way to know it is with the presence of extremely powerful jets of matter. These create powerful beams that are ejected out of a galaxy’s core, at almost the equal speed as light itself. These jets have only been seen to originate from the horizon of black holes, although how it’s created is yet to be explored.What is the easiest way to tell where a supermassive black hole is located? Astronomers believe that the massive stars orbiting on the spectrum of such an object to be a great indicator since a supermassive black hole pulls all the stars in its vicinity.It isn’t possible to fathom how many big or small black holes there might be in the universe, but black holes existing, even to this day, and many more eons to come, have been found. One such, for example, is in our Milky Way galaxy. The largest one is named Ton 618, which is 66 billion times more massive than the mass of the Sun. Keep in mind, this is one that we know about. Who knows what lies light years away from us? In the Milky Way galaxy, scientists surmise there might be anywhere from 10 million to even one billion black holes.Highlights Of Supermassive Black HolesSupermassive black holes have some fun facts worth pondering over.Scientists believe almost every galaxy has a supermassive black hole at the galactic center. Our very own Milky Way galaxy also has a supermassive black hole at the center. While stellar black holes have a mere mass that is three times more than our Sun, when we are talking about a supermassive black hole, it is a large star in question, at least millions, or even billion times more than the mass of the Sun; some of them big enough to even consume an entire solar system. Such a gigantic mass is thought to develop from, as well as assist in, the formation of a galaxy, where the black hole is typically found in the center. In very exciting news, astronomers have found the closest pair of supermassive black holes which are bound to collide with each other soon. They are 89 million light-years away, somewhere in the vast universe. For the one in the Milky Way galaxy, the mass is roughly four million solar masses, a number we cannot comprehend but only marvel at.Truth be told, more is unknown about these vast bodies of matter than what is actually known. It’s because black holes, as their name suggests, really are black. Since even light is sucked in without a trace, black holes are the blackest mass one can find. Although, with their odd and fascinating behavior, theories about supermassive black holes continue to grow with new discoveries. For instance, the validity of string theory will help to determine the activity of matter at the very center of such a black hole. Some scientists even believe extraterrestrial creatures might live inside these black holes, or there might be a whole different universe. These are only hypotheses though since going inside a supermassive black hole comes with no return ticket.NASA’s Research On Supermassive Black HolesAlong with past research tools as the Spitzer Space Telescope, NASA has plans to unlock the chamber of secrets about our universe.A host galaxy and its black hole are crucial to understanding galaxy formation, as recent studies find. Since there is no way to research first-hand (by going inside a black hole), NASA has projects which will concentrate on studying the phenomenon from the exterior and witnessing the birth of a young black hole from scratch.NASA has curated the Constellation X-mission which will help to enhance the knowledge on black holes sitting right on earth. Among other duties, it’s meant to record the light emitted by spinning black holes in space. Time is meant to come to a complete standstill at the center of the black hole. This helps scientists to measure out the time inside a black hole and get very close for the first time to understand what happens at the very horizon.Remember, we spoke about powerful jets of matter earlier? With the Constellation X-mission, clarity is further sought on how matter, that comes in contact with the magnetic fields of the black holes, interacts with them, which aids to decipher why these jets of matter are cast out.There is much to put to the test about Einstein’s original theory. One of them is the rippling of gravity waves by a black hole. With the LISA Mission destined for 2037, NASA wishes to probe into the truth by detecting waves of gravity, a new method, and a genuine breakthrough in astronomy. Working as a cosmic Richter scale, LISA will track down the collision of two black holes.Apart from existing telescopes, the James Webb Telescope will allow NASA to watch the very process of formation of a galaxy, ones whose light would have otherwise taken billions of years to reach our solar system. Similarly, gamma rays radiated by a star at the very brink of its collapse, at the moment of the supernova will be monitored by NASA’s HETE Telescope. So, the scientists can observe the star turning into a black hole for the first time. We are very close in time than we were ever before to unraveling the inexplicable mystery that lies at the center of every galaxy.
Black holes have piqued the interest of astrophysicists, astronomers, and common people alike because of how little is known about them, even to this day.
