“Creatures of Gravity”

Not only do black holes exert large gravitational pulls, they also form through a process in which gravity crushes an enormous amount of material into a very small amount of space. This makes a black hole an extremely dense, or compact, object. So dense and massive is such an object that its gravity is far stronger than that of ordinary planets and stars, which have much less mass. Indeed, a black

A photo of the center of a distant galaxy reveals clouds of swirling gases. Astronomers think the  gas cloud in the center hides a black hole.

hole’s gravity is so intense that it can even imprison light, which moves at nature’s highest possible speed. This is why a black hole appears black no light escapes it to reveal its presence to human eyes and telescopes.

Considering this close relationship between black holes and gravity, black holes might be said to be “creatures of gravity.” It is not possible, therefore, to discuss black holes without understanding how gravity works, especially under extreme conditions. In fact, it was during the years immediately following the discovery of how gravity works that scientists first predicted the existence of black holes, although at the time they were not called black holes and not a shred of evidence for them yet existed.