Our solar system is a very busy place. Earth is not alone as it orbits the Sun. We share our neighborhood with other planets, moons, and countless smaller objects like comets and asteroids. These are ancient pieces of rock and ice left over from when our solar system was formed. Most of them are very … Read more
In our solar system, there is a special moon orbiting the giant planet Jupiter. This moon, called Europa, is an exciting place for scientists. From the outside, Europa looks like a bright, white-and-reddish ball of ice, covered in long cracks and streaks. But what makes it truly special is not what we see on the … Read more
Black holes are perhaps the most mysterious objects in the universe. We know a lot about their outer edge, called the event horizon, which is the point of no return. We can see how their massive gravity pulls in gas and stars around them. But what happens once something crosses that line? What is really … Read more
Our universe is a very big, very busy place. We are familiar with the things we can see, like stars, planets, and bright galaxies. But the universe also has objects that are mysterious and invisible. The most famous of these is the black hole. We usually think of black holes as giant drains at the … Read more
The centers of almost all large galaxies, including our own Milky Way, are home to true giants: supermassive black holes. These objects have masses ranging from a few million to billions of times the mass of our Sun. Their existence today is not surprising—gravity has had billions of years to pull matter together. What is … Read more
When most of us hear the words “black hole,” we think of a giant, dead star. We picture an enormous star, much bigger than our own sun, reaching the end of its life. It runs out of fuel, collapses under its own massive weight, and explodes in a supernova. What’s left behind is a point … Read more
Black holes are perhaps the most mysterious and fascinating objects in the entire universe. These cosmic giants capture the imagination because they represent a place where the ordinary rules of space and time break down completely. We know a black hole is formed when a massive star collapses under its own gravity, crushing all its … Read more
Black holes are famous for being the hungriest objects in the universe. We hear stories about them pulling in everything, even light itself. They are the ultimate traps of gravity. Because they are so powerful, it’s easy to picture them as giant monsters, like cosmic vacuum cleaners, swallowing anything that gets too close. At the … Read more
This question sounds like the start of a horror movie, but it is actually one of the most interesting thought experiments in all of space science. When we talk about the Sun becoming a black hole, we must first be clear: The Sun is far too small to ever become a black hole in reality. … Read more
Black holes are some of the most fascinating and mysterious objects in the entire universe. We hear about them in movies and read about them in books, where they are often used as gateways to other worlds or even other times. They are real, and they are incredibly powerful. A black hole is a place … Read more