Hello, my name is Mariam Okruashvili. I am student of Caucasus university.

And today I will tell you

about Black holes. During the presentation I will try to answer several basic questions about black
holes. Let’s start.
This year, on April 10th, scientists were finally able to do the unthinkable: they allowed humanity
to look straight into the abyss of a super-massive black hole and take a photo like a tourist
attraction! But even after these accomplishments, we still don’t know much about black holes at
all, since one of them has challenged the whole scientific community with new impossible feats.
In the middle of July 2019, black holes puzzled astronomers once again. New observations were
made possible, thanks to the famed Hubble telescope, by a team of European scientists. Their
study showed that a relatively small black hole contradicts all our expectations by almost
completely mimicking its much bigger siblings.

I will show you how this exceptional discovery is. Let’s start with the most basic question. What is
a black hole? It’s the tiniest and heaviest object possible in the universe. It can swallow entire
stars with ease and is absolutely invisible to the human eye. But wait a minute. What was the
giant orange thing on the picture then? Is this a photoshop? No, not at all. The photo is real.
And the image on the photo is not a black hole. Let me explain.

Every black hole was once a shining star, just like the others you see in the night sky. At the end
of its life, the the center of a very massive star collapses in upon itself. This collapse also causes a
supernova, or an exploding star, that blasts part of the star into space.

How Big Are Black Holes?

Black holes can come in a range of sizes, but there are three main types of black holes. The black
hole's mass and size determine what kind it is. The smallest ones are known as primordial black
holes. Scientists believe this type of black hole is as small as a single atom but with the mass of a
large mountain.

The most common type of medium-sized black holes is called "stellar." The mass of a stellar
black hole can be up to 20 times greater than the mass of the sun.

The largest black holes are called "supermassive." The supermassive black hole at the center of
the Milky Way galaxy is called Sagittarius A. It has a mass equal to about 4 million suns and
would fit inside a ball with a diameter about the size of the sun.

Could a Black Hole Destroy Earth?

Black holes do not wander around the universe, randomly swallowing worlds. They follow the
laws of gravity just like other objects in space. The orbit of a black hole would have to be very
close to the solar system to affect Earth, which is not likely. So the scientists say that there is no
danger.
Will the Sun Ever Turn Into a Black Hole?
The sun does not have enough mass to collapse into a black hole. In billions of years, when the
sun is at the end of its life, it will become a red giant star.

How Is NASA Studying Black Holes?

NASA is learning about black holes using spacecraft like the Chandra X-ray Observatory, the
Swift satellite and the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. Fermi launched in 2008 and is
observing gamma rays ,the most energetic form of light - in search of supermassive black holes
and other astronomical phenomena. Spacecraft like these help scientists answer questions about
the origin, evolution and destiny of the universe.