This black hole was just discovered 1,600 light-years from Earth. Could it threaten our existence? Astronomers say not so fast!
The Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics notes that almost all of the few black holes that have been confirmed are"active." Scientists can tell if a black hole is active or dormant with X-ray radiation. Active black holes shine bright as they pull surrounding material in space. Dormant black holes do not emit high levels of X-ray radiation, which makes them harder to see.
"If a black hole is not actively feeding it simply blends in with its surroundings," the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics said., black holes are a result of"a gravitational field so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape." Most black holes form after a large star dies in a supernova explosion. Stellar collisions can form significantly larger black holes.
The sizes of black holes vary significantly."Stellar mass" black holes usually weigh 10 to 24 times the mass of our sun, while"supermassive" black holes can be millions or billions of times as massive as the sun, NASA says. But you don't have to worry about a black hole destroying Earth anytime soon. The odds are incredibly small, scientists say.
"Black holes do not go around in space eating stars, moons and planets. Earth will not fall into a black hole because no black hole is close enough to the solar system for Earth to do that," NASA
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Scientists Discover Closest Known Black Hole to EarthEarthlings, meet your celestial neighbor: an absolutely massive black hole, which is lying dormant in a nearby binary star system.
Read more »
Astronomers discover closest black hole to Earth, and it is 10 times heavier than the SunWith the help of Gemini North telescope in Hawai‘i and a companion star, astronomers discovered the closest black hole to the Earth.
Read more »
How to spot the Hyades, the closest star cluster to EarthThis is the time of year to spot the Hyades, named for weeping nymphs from Greek mythology because its appearance in the night sky marked the start of the rainy season, says Abigail Beall
Read more »
Meta AI creates first ever database of 600 million metagenomic structuresIt is common knowledge that a vast number of proteins exist beyond the ones that have been catalogued and annotated in well-studied organisms and now these proteins are coming to the surface.
Read more »
‘Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery’ Trailer Puts Daniel Craig on New Murder CaseRian Johnson's film arrives in roughly 600 theaters this month before hitting Netflix.
Read more »