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shaan_aragorn
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Which are all the methods by which black holes are detected?
How do we get to know how massive a black hole
How do we get to know how massive a black hole
lionell said:Black holes that are not eating somthing are virtually invisible. We can only detect them by their gravitationel effect on nearby stars. Black holes that are feeding on a nearby star is another matter. The gas from the star will
go round the black hole in a spirale while heating. This is called an accration disk. This super-hot gas emits a lot of visible light and a lot of radiation.
Esnas said:As the black hole "feeds" on a nearby star does the black hole become more massive? Theoretically, how many stars could it devour?
mgb_phys said:Classically there is no limit - black holes at the centre of galaxies are very large, the one in the middle of our own milky way is at least 3.5M times the mass of the sun.
It doesn't get all this mass from swallowing stars, but also dust, gas and anything else around it.
Esnas said:Theoretically, how many stars could it devour?
Asphodel said:All of them.
Esnas said:It seems that size of the black hole is irrelavant since even a small one (Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff limit) could grow without limit building an ever increasing gravitational field.
lionell said:Has it already happened that a black hole ate an other black hole?
A black hole is a region in space where the gravitational pull is so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape. It is formed when a massive star dies and its core collapses under its own gravity.
We know black holes exist based on observational evidence such as the distortion of light and stars orbiting around a point of high gravity. We can also detect the radiation emitted by matter falling into a black hole.
Once something crosses the event horizon of a black hole, it cannot escape. However, Hawking radiation suggests that very small particles can escape from a black hole's gravitational pull.
According to current theories, black holes will eventually evaporate due to Hawking radiation. However, this process would take an incredibly long time for a black hole of significant mass.
Entering a black hole would be a one-way trip, as the intense gravitational forces would stretch and compress anything that enters. Additionally, the extreme conditions near the singularity would make it impossible for a human to survive.