I’ve always been fascinated by the universe. I mean everything about it is rather quite remarkable! But I’ve always kept a special part of the fascination for one of the least known things about our galaxy and universe… black holes. They are both the keys to unlimited possibilities and of course the plausible cause to the end of our universe as we know it.

                I find black holes fascinating because of the mystery behind them and of course the role they play in our universe. Black holes are found at the center of every galaxy. There huge gravitational force keeps the incredibly fast moving stars in orbit around the galactic center. Our own Milky Way galaxy has a mega black hole at its center too. Bit by bit, these black holes are sucking all the matter out of our universe and will continue to consume it until there’s none left, but scientists estimate that it would take around 1 Google years before it happens!(Google = 100 zeroes) So don’t worry, it will be a long while before that happens:)! 

I’ve been going on about how black holes affect the universe as we know it but, I haven’t explained how they are formed in the first place. Black holes are formed when massive stars blow up and collapse inwards. This creates a super nova (basically a giant wave of intense energy that incinerates everything in its path). It leaves the former star in a dense ball (and the denser an object the more gravity it has). Now you have just officially created a new black hole! Just to give you a quick idea of how dense, imagine the earth… If you wanted to create a black hole you would have to squeeze the earth down to about the size of a marble. That’s the kind of density I’m talking about here! The reason they are called black holes is because their gravity is so intense even light can’t escape it. We actually have never seen a black hole because of this trait, but have found other ways locate them. We can see matter coming off other stars and being sucked into them!

Although black holes have many frightening properties about them, they may aid us in the impossible (time travel, and moving through space instantaneously.) If you know about the Theory of General Relativity (you can Google search it) then you would know that gravity affects both space and time. So thus since black holes have immense gravity, then they have an immense affect on both space and time. They essentially can bend and tear the space-time continuum which can create wormholes (a shortcut through space). The theory behind a wormhole is that they not only take you to a different part of space, they can take you to a different time as well.

Black holes are the gate keepers of both space and time and they will inevitably hold the fate of Humanity and our universe. Hopefully one day we will unlock their secrets and be able to use them as the keys to our wildest dreams.