Blackholes

by Jean E. Chery

Throughout time many events have occurred wihtin the stellar world. From the Big Bang to the formation of the first planets and stars, our world is in a constant state of change. One of the driving forces behinde this constant change is the black hole, which I intend to eloborate on in this precluding summary.


To begin, Black holes are enormously compact space objects that were at one time massive stars which collasped inward due to the force of their own gravity. A person can also think of a black hole as a region of space whose gravitational force is strong enough to prohibit anything from escaping from it. Due to this, black holes have gained the the characteristic of being very dense.

The formation of a black hole is believed by astronomers to be caused by a massive star running out of nuclear fuel, which in turn produces an outward push that counters the inward pull of gravity. By analyzing the surounding environment, scientist also speculate the energy or fuel being used to support the black hole maybe the trapped gas, stars, and dust being pulled into its core.

When the remainder of the fuel becomes absolete, the star no longer has the ability to support its own weight. As a result, the star creates an inward pull on itself, therefore creating a large vaccuum possesing enormous amounts of gravitational force( the actuall gravity pulling on the gas resembles swirls from a whirl pool).

Before this step can begin, the star goes through a series of changes or its actual life cycle. The life cycle can begin in the form of a nebula (the cloud of dust remaining after a a massive stellar explosion. After beginning it's cycle as a nebula, the changing star than assumes the form of a main sequence star. After its period of time as a main sequence star , the newly created form of the star appears as a red giant . As it continues to lose energy or fuel , it then takes the form of a white or black dwarf. Using off its last bits of fuel , the star takes the form of a neutron star or the infamous black hole.

Detecting a black hole can be very decieving. Scientists use the occurrences happening near areas speculated to have black holes to determine if a black hole is in existance within that viscenity. Occurences such as the gravitational pull of an object and the release of tremendous amounts of energy can reveal a black hole in hiding.

Many advances have been made in order to extend the present knowledge of black holes. One of the many advances is the spectroscope. Using a spectroscope, the Hubble Space Telescope possesses the ability to record the speed of which gas enters a black hole.

Another was of effectively studying black holes is through the use of X-ray observations. X-rays posses the ability to penetrate through gas and dust much better than optical light . By analyzing the data from X-rays, scientist now believe that the presence of black holes explains an enormous amount of the powerful cosmological events which have and are occurring in the universe.

To conclude, little information is known about the infamous black hole. I believe as time and technology continues to progress, more information on the black hole will be acquired, thus allowing the minds of the many to ponder new hopes , dreams, and beliefs.

This Web page was created by Jean Emmanuel Chery in an astronomy class in the summer of 1998*, for the teacher Mr. Drennon.