Black Holes in Fiction - Black Holes in Astrophysics

Black Holes in Astrophysics

A black hole is a sharply curved region of spacetime where gravity is so strong that it prevents anything, including light, from escaping (see graphic, above). The general theory of relativity predicts that any sufficiently compact mass will deform spacetime enough to create a black hole. Around the deformation, there is a mathematically defined, spherical surface called the event horizon, whose distance from the center is called the Schwarzschild radius, that marks the point of no return: The hole is called "black" because it absorbs all the light that hits the horizon, reflecting nothing, just as a perfect black body does in thermodynamics. The treatment of such supercompact objects in science fiction usually involves either their depiction as insatiable omnivores—deadly sinkholes capable of ensnaring and consuming anything in their vicinity—or else an exploration of various novel physical effects caused by the enormous tidal forces that exist in close proximity to them.