Black Hole Mass Gap

Context: 

An unusual object is found to be falling in the Black Hole Mass Gap by astronomers.

What is a Black Hole?

• High Gravity: A black hole is a cosmic object with strong gravity that nothing can escape from it, not even light. NASA explains the intensity of a black hole as “20 times the sun’s mass could fit easily in a 16 km ball”.
• Invisible to Eyes: Since no light can escape, none can bounce back. This makes the black hole invisible to our eyes and telescopes that we rely on.
• Mass: The mass of small black holes is around 5 to 20 times the mass of the sun (solar mass); for supermassive black holes, it is millions to billions times the solar mass.

What Are Neutron Stars?

• Origin: Neutron stars are created after a star dies violently after a supernova explosion.
• Density: They are extremely dense celestial bodies with twice the solar mass contained in a diameter of 20 km.
• Magnetic fields: They have huge magnetic fields around 1012 gauss (Earth’s magnetic field is 0.5 gauss.

• Comparison to Black Hole: 

  • Blackholes are much larger in mass than the neutron stars.
  • Both Black hole and Neutron stars are created after a star dies violently after a supernova explosion.
  • Neutron stars are significantly brighter than black holes.
  • Black holes are not solid objects whereas Neutron stars are the densest solid matter in space.
  • Black holes trap all the surrounding light that crosses its vicinity whilst Neutron stars do not.

News Source: The Hindu

DOWNLOAD PDF