The Mystery in the Outer Space:
The Black Holes
There are mysterious objects in the outer
space, called black holes. They have extremely
high density and hence possess such a strong
gravitational attraction, that even light cannot
escape from their grip. Albert Einstein was the
first to predict the existence of black holes in
1916 with his ‘General theory of relativity’.
The term ‘black hole’ was coined later, in 1967,
by American astronomer John Wheeler. The first
black hole was discovered in 1971.
A black hole is said to be formed on the burning of
a dying star which collapses and falls into itself.
It contracts so rapidly that it starts collecting all
resulting matter into itself. Gases rushing towards
a black hole get heated up and start emitting
x-rays. It has not been possible to establish a
concrete theory of formation of a black hole as it
is not possible to record any observations on the
goings-on inside a black hole. However a black
hole can make its presence felt on the basis of
its effects on matters around it. Its presence can
be surmised by recording observations on the
movement of those stars which circle that part
of the universe which is felt to be devoid of any
matter.
Black holes can be very small or they can be large.
Scientists feel that black holes can be as small as
an atom but their mass is as big as a mountain.
Other type of black holes has larger mass, many
times that of Sun. These are classified into two
types. One type of black holes has mass of a few
dozen times that of Sun and are called stellar
black holes. The other type of black holes has
mass many million times that of Sun, and are
called supermassive black holes. The galaxy
containing our earth is called ‘Milky way’.
This galaxy has supermassive black holes of
a mass a million times or more that of Sun.
Every major galaxy has a supermassive black
hole at its center. The supermassive black hole
at the center of ‘Milky way’ galaxy is called
Sagittarius – A* ; and has a mass 4 million
times that of Sun.
On the formation of black holes scientists feel
that small black holes got created with the
initial formation of the universe. Stellar black
holes got formed by the collapse of a very big
star within its center or by destruction of the
star, the phenomenon being called supernova.
Scientists also feel that supermassive black
holes got formed along with the formation of
galaxies.
Black holes cannot be seen as light gets attracted
at a great speed into it due to its tremendous
gravity, but scientists have observed the effects
generated by the black holes in the universe with
the help of astronomical telescopes and have
tried to find out the types of stars which get into
orbits around the black holes. When black holes
and stars are near one another intense light is
generated which cannot be observed by human
eyes, but observations can be recorded with the
help of specific astronomical equipment.
People, in general, have some misconceptions
about black holes that they feed upon the stars,
The Mystery in the Outer Space:
The Black Holes
Black is modest and arrogant at the same time. Black is lazy and easy - but mysterious. But
above all black says this: “I don’t bother you - don’t bother me”. - Yohji Yamamoto
48 AKHAND JYOTI Jan.-Feb. 2018
moon and planets, and that some time our
earth will also be engulfed by some black hole.
These misconceptions are, however, baseless
and incorrect as it is observed that no black
hole is near the solar congregation. Even if
some black hole is of mass equal to that of
Sun - and therefore its gravitational force is the
same as that of Sun - earth cannot be engulfed
by the black hole, as in such a situation earth
and the other planets will get into orbit around
such a black hole, just as they are presently in
orbit around the Sun.
A significant achievement came in 2015 when
astronomers using the Laser Interferometer
Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) made
the first detection of gravitational waves. These
waves were inferred to be coming from merging
stellar black holes. LIGO’s observations also
provided insights about the direction a black
hole spins. As a pair of black holes spirals
around one another, they can spin in the same
direction or in counter directions. Indian origin
LIGO researcher B. Sathyaprakash said - “This
is the first time that we have evidence that the
black holes may not be aligned, giving us just
a tiny hint that binary black holes may form in
dense stellar clusters.”
How the binary black holes form? The first
theory suggests that they formed at about
the same time, from two stars that were born
together and died explosively at about the same
time.
The companion stars would have had the
same spin orientation, so the black holes they
left behind would, as well. The second theory
suggests that black holes in a stellar cluster sink
to the center of the cluster and pair up. These
companions would have random spin orientations
compared to one another. LIGO’s observations
of companion black holes with different spin
orientaons provide stronger evidence for this
formation theory.
Though black holes are even now a great mystery
for the scientists, some of our ancient scriptures
provide hints about the utility of so-called black
holes. There is anecdote in Mahabharat that
Duryodhan served kheer (a sweet preparation of
milk) infested with poison to Bheema to eat and
then pushed him into the river so that he would
get drowned and killed. But (perhaps through
some such black hole) Bheema reached another
universe called Paatal Loka, where he was
welcomed and offered a liquid preparation to eat,
which destroyed all the poison in his body and he
gained strength equal to thousands of elephants.
Then, the king of Paatal Loka, Nagaraja sent him
back to earth.
Similarly there is story of a learned person
‘Bandee’ in the kingdom of King Janak. He
invited all for a debate on spiritual matters with
the condition that whoever would be defeated
would be killed by him by drowning in the
sea. In spite of this warning many learnedpersons came to him for the debate and had
to get drowned in the sea on getting defeated.
Eventually to protect the learned people Saint
Ashtavakra had to come for the debate.
The narration further states that when Saint
Ashtavakra defeated Bandee in debate, instead
of drowning him Saint Ashtavakra asked him
to bring back the other learned individuals. On
this Bandee admitted that he had not drowned
and killed the individuals in the sea, but had
sent them with their physical bodies to Varuna
Loka through a special route, as the learned
Brahmins were needed there for a yajna
organized there. This indicates the existence
of some black hole or specific route through
which the learned persons were sent to Varuna
Loka by drowning them in the sea.
In the present times, we all know about the
mysterious Bermuda Triangle in Atlantic
Ocean. All the ships and airplanes passing
through this route have been lost mysteriously
without any trace. All equipment like
radars, radios, wireless and compass start
malfunctioning on approaching this region
and ultimately stop functioning totally and
thus all such equipment lose contact with the
rest of the world. Therefore this region has
been declared out of bounds for any journey
by ships and airplanes.
This is indicative of
the existence of some black hole in the ocean.
It is possible that black holes form the nodal
points (or junctions) on the faster routes in
the universe which facilitate easy travel in the
universe and allow entry into other universes.
Perhaps, future research will be able to unravel
these secrets of black holes and thus pave the
way to explore other worlds
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