A better understanding of black holes can be revolutionary for our physics department. Still, it has been proved highly difficult because of their enigmatic nature, making it next to impossible to observe or analyze them.
Since the theory of gravity is not applicable near a black hole, any detailed observation or analysis can lead our scientists towards some breakthrough. These galactic monsters can be analyzed through Upgraded telescopes, improved instruments, and artificial intelligence.
Black holes are formed when a star burns all its nuclear fuel and collapses under its gravitation. Their structure and features make it impossible even to imagine such oddities.
The black hole gains its immense gravitational pull through its ability to shrink even the largest of stars present in our solar system. For instance, Imagine our Sun with its diameter of roughly 1.4 million kilometers (87,000 miles) shrinking into a black hole the size of a small city just six kilometers (3.7 miles) across.
Along with trapping light, black holes also shred any stars they encounter and even merge.
To Dr. Kenneth Duncan, an astrophysicist at the Royal Observatory in Edinburgh, UK, “At the heart of every massive galaxy, we think there is a supermassive black hole. We also think they play a significant role in how galaxies form, including the Milky Way.”
Another astrophysicist, Professor Phillip Best at the University of Edinburgh, said, “Black holes at the center of galaxies can be between a million and a few billion times the mass of our Sun.”
There is much-upgraded equipment that is helping in finding more about these unusual and unique bodies present in our Universe. An upgrade to the William Herschel Telescope on La Palma, Spain, will allow it to observe thousands of galaxies simultaneously. Radio signals indicate that supermassive black holes exist from as early as the first 5-10% of the Universe’s history. The Gaia satellite, launched in 2013, is providing some assistance, but a planned mission called Euclid will take higher resolution images and may help Jonker prove IMBHs exist.
Dr. Peter Jonker, an astronomer at Radboud University in Nijmegen, is studying the possible existence of intermediate black holes (IMBH) with the image project. He states, “The Universe started out like a homogenous soup of material, so how do you get clumps that weigh a billion times the mass of the sun in a concise time?”
He continued, “When a compact star, a white dwarf, is ripped apart, it can be ripped only by intermediate-mass black holes. Supermassive black holes eat them whole.”
“The theory of gravity breaks down near a black hole, and if we observe them closely enough. Our expectation is that we will find deviations from the theory and important advances in understanding how physics works.” – Jonker.
