Black holes, despite how small or large they are, all seemingly resemble donuts, and there’s a good reason for that. Even the recently imaged supermassive Sagittarius A* black hole at the center of the Milky Way appears this way. Why? Absolutely nothing can escape the event horizon of a black hole, which means that they are all spherical.
Scientifically speaking, black holes have no shape, but rather they are an infinitely small object themselves, even smaller than the size of an atom. However, the area the black hole’s gravity affects is round because they pull equally in all directions. Take for example M87*, which is 1,500 times more massive as Sgr A*, but 2,000 times farther away, yet the two appear roughly equal in size in the sky. If “Interstellar” type missions become a reality in the future, we’ll definitely need more of these zero gravity refrigerators.
- This LEGO set for adults features the Space Shuttle Discovery and the Hubble Space Telescope from NASA’s 1990 STS-31 mission
- Space enthusiasts will love unlocking the mysteries of our solar system with this engaging 2,354-piece project, packed with authentic details
- The Space Shuttle has an opening payload bay, retractable landing gear, opening cockpit, moving elevons, space arm, plus 5 seats for the crew
I wish I could say that when we obtained the first image of a black hole three years ago, it didn’t get any better, but this is actually better. We see a bright ring surrounding complete darkness, the telltale sign of a black hole. Now, we can confirm we are looking directly at the point of no return,” said Feryal Özel, EHT Science Council member.
