Black Holes: Crash Course Astronomy #33
We've covered a lot of incredible stuff, but this week we're talking about the weirdest objects in space: BLACK HOLES. Stellar mass black holes form when a very massive star dies, and its...
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As we’ve seen over the past few episodes, a lot of really epic stuff happens when a star dies. If the star’s core is less than 1.4 times the mass of the Sun, it becomes a white dwarf—a very hot ball of super-compressed matter about the size of the Earth. If the core is heftier, between 1.4 and 2.8 times the Sun’s mass, it collapses even further, becoming a neutron star that’s only 20 km across. The neutron soup inside of it resists the collapse, and prevents the core from shrinking any more. But what if the mass is MORE than 2.8 times the Sun’s? If that happens, the gravity of the core can actually overcome the tremendous resistance of the neutrons and continue its collapse. What force can possibly stop it now? It turns out, none. None more force. ...
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As we’ve seen over the past few episodes, a lot of really epic stuff happens when a star dies. If the star’s core is less than 1.4 times the mass of the Sun, it becomes a white dwarf—a very hot ball of super-compressed matter about the size of the Earth. If the core is heftier, between 1.4 and 2.8 times the Sun’s mass, it collapses even further, becoming a neutron star that’s only 20 km across. The neutron soup inside of it resists the collapse, and prevents the core from shrinking any more. But what if the mass is MORE than 2.8 times the Sun’s? If that happens, the gravity of the core can actually overcome the tremendous resistance of the neutrons and continue its collapse. What force can possibly stop it now? It turns out, none. None more force. ...
