Stellar Black Holes

space · gravity · stars

Born from stars. Stellar black holes form when really massive stars reach the end of their lives and collapse inward due to their own incredible gravity. The star's core squeezes down to create one of the most extreme objects in the universe.

Supernova triggers. Many stellar black holes are created when a massive star explodes in a supernova, a burst so bright it can outshine an entire galaxy. After the explosion, what remains of the star's core collapses into a black hole.

Weigh millions of suns. Stellar black holes are much smaller than supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies, but they still pack the mass of five to tens of suns into a space smaller than a city. Nothing can escape from inside their event horizon, not even light.

Many different ways. While supernovas create most stellar black holes we know about, scientists think other formation methods might create them too. For example, a stellar black hole could form if a star collapses without a huge explosion.

We can detect them. Astronomers find stellar black holes by watching how their gravity affects nearby stars and gas, which swirls around the black hole and heats up before falling in. This creates x-rays and other radiation that telescopes can see from Earth.