An international team of astronomers has discovered the oldest known black hole. The opportunity to question what exactly black holes are, how they form and consume their surroundings. With Lucia Sillig, science journalist at RTS.
“It is a huge mass concentrated in one point, and the gravitational pull in this place is so great that anything that goes in cannot come out. It becomes a point of no return,” explains the journalist of the CQFD program.
>> Read also: Discovery of the oldest black hole in the universe, “small and powerful”
The most “classic” black holes, stellar black holes, form when stars die and contract. “If the mass of the star is sufficient and it is concentrated in one point, it becomes nothing more than a collapsing force,” explains Lucia Sillig.
The black hole in our galaxy has consumed everything in its surroundings.
Lucia Sillig, science journalist
There are billions of them in the universe, but they remain difficult to observe because they do not emit light. “We often wonder what would happen if an astronaut fell into a black hole. There would be such a difference in the force pulling between his feet and his head that the person would be stretched out like spaghetti.”
Thereafter? Do we also risk being swallowed up one day?
>> Listen to the full episode: What exactly is a black hole? / Le Point J / 11 mins / yesterday at 5:00 p.m
Caroline Stevan and the Point J team