Stars are some of the most massive bodies in the universe. The mass of the Sun, our closest star, is about 1/3 of a million the mass of the Earth. Think about that. That is huge. Stars, however, are nothing when compared to the mass of a black hole. It's important to separate size and mass. Size refers to the physical dimensions of something. Mass refers to the gravitational force a body effects on another. While the mass of the Sun is 333,000 the mass of the Earth,...

The news of the first-ever image of a black hole swept the world yesterday. Einstein's equations and our general understanding of physics had predicted these phenomena in space, but we had never actually seen one. Artists had done a great job at illustrating these "black holes" in the universe, but yesterday's image was visual proof they existed. Even with our advanced understanding of physics, black holes have always inspired awe. After all, how can something so massive be so small (relatively speaking) and so large at the same...

The first-ever image of a black hole in space is here. This is quite a contradiction because nothing can escape a black hole, not even light, and without light we have no images. So how, then, can this be? First, let's talk about what a black hole is and how they are created. A black hole is created when a big-enough star dies and its mass collapses onto itself. The creation of a black hole is something difficult to comprehend. For example, suppose our Sun became a black...