
What Are Black Holes? - NASA
Sep 8, 2020 · A black hole is an astronomical object with a gravitational pull so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape it. A black hole’s “surface,” called its event horizon, defines the boundary where the velocity needed to escape exceeds the speed of …
Black hole - Wikipedia
A black hole is a massive, compact astronomical object so dense that its gravity prevents anything from escaping, even light. Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass will form a black hole. [2] The boundary of no escape is called the event horizon.
Black holes: Everything you need to know - Space.com
May 6, 2022 · Black holes are real — and they're some of the most mysterious objects in space. Discover what they are, how they form, and why they captivate scientists.
What Is a Black Hole? (Grades K – 4) - NASA
Nov 21, 2022 · A black hole is a place in space where gravity pulls so much that even light can not get out. The gravity is so strong because matter has been squeezed into a tiny space. This can happen when a star is dying. Because no light can get out, people can’t see black holes. They are invisible.
Black hole | Definition, Formation, Types, Pictures, & Facts
Mar 26, 2025 · Black hole, cosmic body of extremely intense gravity from which nothing, not even light, can escape. It can be formed by the death of a massive star wherein its core gravitationally collapses inward upon itself, compressing to a point of …
10 Questions You Might Have About Black Holes - Science@NASA
Sep 23, 2019 · A black hole is an extremely dense object in space from which no light can escape. While black holes are mysterious and exotic, they are also a key consequence of how gravity works: When a lot of mass gets compressed into a small enough space, the resulting object rips the very fabric of space and time, becoming what is called a singularity.
What Is a Black Hole? | NASA Space Place – NASA Science for Kids
Mar 24, 2025 · A black hole is an area of such immense gravity that nothing—not even light—can escape from it. Black holes form at the end of some stars’ lives. The energy that held the star together disappears and it collapses in on itself producing a magnificent explosion.
Black Holes - Science@NASA
May 8, 2024 · Astronomers tracked the orbits of several stars near the center of the Milky Way to prove it houses a supermassive black hole, a discovery that won the 2020 Nobel Prize. When very massive objects accelerate through space, they create ripples in the fabric of space-time called gravitational waves.
What Is a Black Hole? - Exoplanet Exploration
Apr 9, 2019 · A black hole is a dense, compact object whose gravitational pull is so strong that nothing can escape, not even light. Black holes are thought to result from the collapse of very massive stars. The gravity is so strong because their mass has been squeezed into a tiny space. The boundary in space around a black hole is called the "event horizon."
Black Holes | NSF - National Science Foundation
Black holes have long captured the imagination, from groundbreaking ideas in Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity to the first image of a black hole, revealed a century later by the global Event Horizon Telescope. ... detect the ripples in space-time from black holes colliding, and may soon even peer at the disc of disrupted mass and ...