Introducing a very spacey list: 20 Black Hole Facts To Blow Your Mind. Space truly is the final frontier. There’s so much we don’t know yet about the universe. And we especially don’t know much about black holes, but we’ve managed to compile these 20 Black Hole Facts for you.
Scientists have been theorizing about black holes for almost a century. As the days and years go by we learn more and more about black holes that prove many theories proposed by famous scientists such as Albert Einstein, and Stephen Hawking.
While we still have a lot to learn about black holes, technological advancements are making it easier to understand the mystery that surrounds them. So, without further ado, here are 20 Black Hole Facts To Blow Your Mind!
A Massive Star Collapsing In Upon Itself

Black holes are formed when large stars run out of fuel and collapse in on themselves. If the star is large enough it will shrink down to the size of an atom known as a gravitational singularity.
The term “black hole” refers to the gravitational pull that this singularity has.
Black Holes Come In Many Different Sizes

Black holes come in many sizes. Primordial black holes being the smallest. Followed by Stellar-mass black holes which are the most common type of black holes. The largest type are called Supermassive black holes, these black holes tend to be four-million times larger than the sun and are located at the center of galaxies.
There Are Different Types

Not only do black holes vary in sizes but astronomers have found that there are also different types of black holes. There are spinning black holes, electrical black holes, and a combination of the two. The type is determined by the amount of energy the black hole gives out.
The Accretion Disk

The area around the black hole where gas, dust, stars, and planets fall into orbit is known as an accretion disk. This area is where objects go as they are being pulled closer to the center of the black hole.
The Event Horizon

The event horizon is the region of the black hole where gravity becomes overwhelming for any object. Any material that crosses the event horizon has no chance of escaping the black hole. For this reason, the event horizon is also known as “the point of no return”.
Black Holes are Virtually Invisible

Too Many to Count

The Sun Will Never Become a Black Hole

Black Hole at the Center of Galaxies

According to scientists, black holes hold entire galaxies together. They also believe that every galaxy has a supermassive black hole at the center of them that holds them together.
The black hole at the center of our galaxy is known as Sagittarius A, it’s 30,000 light years away and it’s four million times larger than our sun.
Black Holes Don't Suck

While many depictions of black holes show them as a funnel, this isn’t the case. Black holes are just like any other object in space, they just happen to have an immensely strong gravitational pull. Making it seem as though things are falling into it.
Spaghettification

First Known Black Hole

The first object considered to be a black hole is Cygnus X-1. In 1971, scientists detected radio emissions coming from Cygnus X-1, and a massive hidden object was found and identified as a black hole.
Friendly Wager

Cygnus X-1 was the subject of a 1974 friendly wager between Stephen Hawking and a fellow physicist Kip Thorne.
Hawking bet that the source was not a black hole and Thorne thought it was. Decades later in 1990, Hawking finally admitted he was wrong and that Thorne was right.
Black Holes Can Disappear

We Are 20,000 Light Years From the Nearest Black Hole

Early research revealed the nearest black hole was a mere 1,600 light years away from earth. However, later research showed that the nearest black hole was actually 20,000 light years away from earth.
They Might Spawn New Universes

Not Always Destructive

We know that most black holes are indeed destructive, but there are many theories that suggest otherwise. Some scientists believe that we can harness energy from a black hole and use it for space travel.
Wibbly Wobbly, Timey Wimey

Gravitational time warps are caused by the black hole’s effect on gravity. This time warp would cause the time to move at a faster rate than on earth, and they’re actually quite common in the universe.
We Can Hear Them

Seeing the Unseeable

The first photograph of a black hole was released to the public on April 10th, 2019. What was once thought to be unseeable was finally captured on camera.
The black hole captured by Dr. Katie Bouman is known as Messier 87. It’s 55 million light years away from earth and is thought to be one of the largest black holes in existence.