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You are here: Home / Space / How Do Stars Become Black Holes and When Was the First Black Hole Discovered?

How Do Stars Become Black Holes and When Was the First Black Hole Discovered?

May 30, 2020 by Karen Hill

Black holes were first discussed in 1783, but their existence has not been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt.

Astronomers theorize that if a large mass were squashed into a tiny space, the resulting power of gravity would attract and devour all nearby matter, even light.

It would be a black hole. Black holes are not actually holes in space. They are objects.

The first likely black hole, Cygnus X-1, in the constellation Cygnus, was found in 1965.

Since then, many other powerful objects too massive to be neutron stars and too small to be regular stars have been designated as black holes.

Theoretically, the gravity of a very massive star, with at least three times more matter than the Sun at the time of its collapse would cause the star to continue to contract beyond the stage of being a neutron star.

That star would have a terrific gravitational pull; it would be a black hole.

For instance, if the Sun shrank to a sphere with a 2-mile (3-km) radius, it would become a black hole.

While not a star, the Earth would have to collapse to a radius of 0.4 inches (1 cm) to become a black hole.

No nearby matter could then escape the pull of its gravity, not even radiation.

Related Facts

  • Who Discovered Black Holes and Where do Black Holes come from?
  • Why Is a Black Hole Black, Where Do Black Holes Come From, and When Were Black Holes First Discovered?
  • How do Astronomers find a black hole if black holes are invisible?
  • What Is a Black Hole, How Are Black Holes Created, and What Would Happen If You Fell Into a Black Hole?
  • How do astronomers know how far away stars and galaxies are from earth?
  • Who Discovered Quasars and Pulsars and Where do the super dense, distant objects in space come from?

Filed Under: Space

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

Previous Post: « What Kind of Star Is the Sun, What Is the Temperature of the Surface of the Sun, and How Was the Sun Formed?
Next Post: What Is a Neutron Star, How Is a Neutron Star Created, and What Is the Mass of a Neutron Star? »

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