Go outside. Look up. You might be seeing the Sun or some clouds. Depending on the time you read this, you may be gazing up at the moon and the stars. Regardless. One thing you are looking at, but don’t see, is a bunch of black holes.
There are so many black holes in the Universe that it is impossible to count them. It is pretty much like asking how many grains of sand are on the beach. But good thing for us. The Universe is enormous. So, none of the known black holes are close enough to pose any danger to Earth.
We’ve all heard about black holes. But few people actually know anything about them. Well. I am here to tell you. They are like giant invisible blenders. Big, honking, churning blenders that are lurking in the corners of deep space. And they are always on. Those black holes are out there sucking in unsuspecting stars and planets and ripping them to shreds. Like crazy.
We’re only beginning to understand… wait. Wait. I should say, scientists are only beginning to understand the secrets of deep space. They are just starting to figure out what the capabilities of those black hole death traps are all about.
They are one of the most interesting things about space. Nothing can escape their pull. And the concept of all of this literally makes me a little queasy.
Okay. But let’s start with how they are formed. Black holes basically come into existence like this. Take one of the most massive stars. One that is way bigger than our Sun. Its life will eventually end in some supernova explosion. And when that happens, a black hole is formed.
Now think about this. The Milky Way galaxy contains some 100 billion stars. That is ONE HUNDRED BILLION stars. Roughly one out of every thousand stars that form is massive enough to become a black hole. So if you do the quick math, our galaxy must harbor some 100 million big, stinking black holes.
Most of these are invisible to us, and only about a dozen have been identified. The nearest black hole is some 1,600 lightyears from Earth.
Okay. A few more things. In the region of the Universe that is visible from Earth, there are mostly around 100 billion galaxies. Each of those galaxies has about 100 million black holes. And somewhere out there, a new black hole is born every second. That sucks. I mean it. They suck and suck and suck.
It is a big, dang place out there people. A big, big place.
One more thing. And this one gives me the willies. The capabilities of black holes are unknown, but given their power to suck in everything around them, they were considered invisible death traps spiraling around in space. Either that or some kind of special portal with the ability to transport things to other dimensions.
But then there is THIS. In recent times, a new concept has emerged. It suggests something even more incredible. And here it is:
Our Universe exists INSIDE of a black hole.
This popular theory opens up possibilities for things previously thought fictional, like time travel and parallel worlds, because if a black hole is a doorway rather than a deathtrap, we all stand to enter into a realm where the laws of nature no longer apply.
Okay. Well. That’s all I have.
Maybe you better go sit down somewhere and eat a bowl of Wheaties or something.
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“Listen to the mustn’ts, child. Listen to the don’ts. Listen to the shouldn’ts, the impossibles, the won’ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me… Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.”
― Shel Silverstein
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“Alice laughed. ‘There’s no use trying,’ she said. ‘One can’t believe impossible things.’
I daresay you haven’t had much practice,’ said the Queen. ‘When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast. There goes the shawl again!”
― Lewis Carroll
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“There is no point in using the word ‘impossible’ to describe something that has clearly happened.”
― Douglas Adams
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Black hole-ish. It will suck the life right out of us.
