Black holes have long been one of the most mysterious space objects, and are still not fully understood by humans even with extensive studies. Black holes are not holes, but huge concentrations of matter packed into very tiny spaces. This makes them so dense that gravity just beneath its surface (event horizon) is strong enough that nothing can escape. We do know some things about these space enigmas, and many weird facts about black holes. Keep reading to learn more about these objects, and see if you already know some of these six weird facts about black holes.
6. Black holes distort time and space around them
Our sixth selection for weird facts about black holes focuses on time and space. If you were ever in a spaceship flying past a black hole, its extreme gravitational pull would slow down time and warp space. The ship would get pulled closer and join an accretion disk of space material spiraling toward the event horizon. Once you hit this boundary, gravity would super-stretch your body as you reached the black hole’s center. Yikes.
5. Theoretically anything can become a black hole
Our fifth selection for weird facts about black holes is quite interesting, due to our current understanding of physics. In theory, if you could shrink an object sufficiently enough, all of the compressed matter would become extremely dense and could result in a black hole. In reality, scientists know that black holes are created when stars about 20 to 30 times more massive than our sun suffer gravitational collapse.
4. Black holes have three layers
Just like ogres, black holes have layers, the fourth selection for weird facts about black holes. If you could dissect a black hole, you would find the outer layer, the inner layer, and the singularity. The outer layer is also referred to as the outer event horizon, or the boundary around the mouth of the black hole. Next is the inner layer, which lies in the middle and is referred to as the inner event horizon. Finally is the center of the black hole, where all the mass is concentrated around an immense gravitational pull.
3. Black holes may have a counterpart
Next on our weird facts about black holes is the idea of a counterpart. Black holes are collapsed stars that suck in all the matter around them, effectively being the universe’s vacuum machine. Some scientists theorize that an entity called a white hole may also exist, but have a counter functionality. White holes, instead of sucking in matter, would spill matter into the universe. While not proven yet, if white holes are discovered it could be an incredible addition to the already infinite universe around us.
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2. Black holes come in mini, middling, and mammoth sizes
Would you like your black hole to be small, medium, or large? Taking the second spot on the weird facts about black holes list is the differences in size for these space objects. There are three main types of black holes: primordial black holes, stellar-mass black holes, and supermassive black holes.
Primordial black holes are thought to have formed seconds after the Big Bang and are more minuscule than an atom with the mass of an asteroid. Stellar-mass black holes are the most common, formed when a massive dying star explodes and the core collapses from the weight of its gravity. Supermassive black holes are the biggest in the universe, some with masses billions of times that of our sun, but scientists are unsure how they form.
1. Black holes devour things and regularly spit them out
Our final selection for weird facts about black holes is probably the strangest, as black holes are categorized as a “point of no return.” While black holes only absorb objects too close to their orbit, they also occasionally fling out planet-sized “spitballs.” These objects are able to escape a black hold because they are made of matter that slips from the accretion disk before passing the point of no return and coalesces into chunks. Let’s hope none of these come near our solar system though, as they can fly up to 20 million miles per hour.
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