Endless Facts, One Snippet at a Time
Black Holes Through Einstein’s Lens of Relativity
- Black holes are regions where gravity warps spacetime so intensely that nothing can escape.
- Einstein’s general relativity predicted black holes as natural outcomes of massive stars collapsing.
- At the event horizon, the escape velocity equals the speed of light.
- Time slows dramatically near a black hole compared to distant observers.
- Light bends around black holes, creating dramatic gravitational lensing effects.
- Supermassive black holes sit at the centers of most galaxies, including our Milky Way.
- The first image of a black hole’s shadow was captured in 2019 by the Event Horizon Telescope.
- Black holes merge and send out gravitational waves—ripples in spacetime detected on Earth.
- Relativity shows black holes stretch space and distort time in extreme ways.
- Though invisible directly, black holes reveal themselves through their effects on nearby stars and gas.