Shocking! Black hole is not a hole actually- says Astrophysicist

A black hole is one of the biggest mysteries in our universe that scientists have been exploring for years. While we have been reading that a black hole can swallow everything that comes in its way including light as well, a new study by Oxford Astrophysicist Rebecca Smethurst, aka Dr. Becky has unfolded some shocking facts about these deadly holes. She has explained whether these black holes are fact or fiction, what's the truth behind it, what is the black hole, actually, do they really consume everything that comes in their way and other such questions. Read on to find out.

What is a black hole?

Regina Caputo, a research astrophysicist at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre defined a black hole as "a region of space where gravity is so strong that even light can't escape." However, Dr. Becky in her book “A Brief History of Black Holes” said that the fearsome black hole is not actually a hole. She explained that a black hole is actually a mountain of matter crushed into a very small space that is so dense that its escape velocity is greater than the speed of light which is considered as the fastest speed at 300000 km/seconds. And hence black holes are invisible as no light can get out of them. She shared that the black holes should be named dark stars. The term black hole was first used by physicist Robert H. Dicky in 1963 and since then it has been used.

NASA in one of its blogspot explained that the gravity is so strong because of the matter being squeezed into a tiny space when a dying star explodes. Smaller black hole’s mass is generated due to the catastrophic death of a star when it burns up all its fuel and collapses in on itself. However, things are different in case of supermassive black holes. They are equivalent to the mass of billions of stars, and scientists are still trying to find answers to these questions.