Transcript Foundation 1 - Discovering Astronomy

Chapter 14:
Black Holes
Stellar-Mass Black Hole: Death
of a Massive Star
Supermassive Black Holes: In the
Centers of most Galaxies
What are Quasars?
Quasars get their energy from swallowing up matter in the accretion disk
Quasars
look like a
star, but
must be
enormously
luminous –
because it is
4 billion
light years
away!!
Primordial or mini-black holes:
may have formed in the early
universe
Intermediate -Mass black holes: In the
Centers of Globular Clusters
The Geometry of a Black Hole
Nothing can escape the gravity of a black hole once it is within
the event horizon, not even light!!!
Black holes are predicted by
Einstein’s
General Theory of Relativity:
Anything that has mass curves
the space around it!
Detecting Black Holes
Black holes can only be seen when it is feeding!
Detecting Black Holes
Matter orbiting around a black hole produces
strong X-ray radiation!
Detecting Black Holes:
Monitoring Speeds of Stars at the
Galactic Center
Black holes evaporate:
Hawking Radiation
Wormholes
Tidal forces near a black hole would
stretch and tear the object apart!