Episode2- Types of Black Holes

 Types of black holes

There are three main types of black holes: stellar, supermassive, and primordial. Stellar black holes are formed when massive stars collapse at the end of their life cycle. They can have masses up to 20 times that of the sun and are scattered throughout galaxies. The first black hole ever discovered was Cygnus X-1, a stellar black hole that orbits a bright blue star in our galaxy. Supermassive black holes are found at the centers of most large galaxies, including our own Milky Way. They have masses millions or billions of times that of the sun and can influence the formation and evolution of their host galaxies. The supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy is called Sagittarius A*, and has a mass equal to about 4 million suns. Primordial black holes are hypothetical black holes that could have formed in the early universe before stars and galaxies were formed. They could have masses ranging from tiny fractions of a gram to thousands of times that of the sun. Scientists have not yet detected any primordial black holes, but they are considered possible candidates for dark matter. Discoveries and challenges One of the biggest challenges in studying black holes is that they are invisible to conventional telescopes since they do not emit or reflect any light. However, scientists can infer their presence and properties by observing their effects on their surroundings, such as gravitational lensing, accretion disks, jets, and gravitational waves. Gravitational lensing is a phenomenon where light from distant objects is bent by the gravity of a massive object, such as a black hole. This can create distorted or multiple images of the source object, or even bright rings or arcs around the massive object. Accretion disks are disks of gas and dust that orbit around a black hole and are heated by friction and gravity. They can emit intense radiation across the electromagnetic spectrum, from radio waves to X-rays.