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One way to make a black hole is from stars. Inside a star, gravity tries to
pull everything closer together. At the same time, however, energy released
by nuclear reactions heats the stellar interior. The pressure of the hot gas
pushes out so that gravity and pressure balance exactly.
When a massive star runs out of nuclear fuel, an unstable situation
develops. Gravity gets the upper hand. The outer layers explode in a
supernova, and the center region implodes. If the central core of the star is
massive enough, such as ten times the mass of the Sun, then nothing can
stop its collapse.
Astronomers cannot see black holes, so how do they know these objects
exist? They can infer the presence of a black hole from its interaction with a
companion star. Many stars form in pairs or close groups. If one star in a
pair becomes a black hole, it does not threaten its companion unless the
companion wanders too close. Then the strong gravitational pull of the
black hole can tear off matter from its companion in large streams. The
stream of star matter heats up as it circles closer and closer to the point of
no return. Astronomers can see these "accretion disks." From the motion
and heat, they can infer the presence of a black hole.
Supemassive
This is how astronomers think the supermassive black holes grow. As material gets
closer and closer to the event horizon, the material heats up and swirls around the
hole. This "accretion disk" is visible to us. By measuring its motion, we can infer the
mass of the black hole.
Miniature
Theory suggests that miniature black holes might have formed in the early
universe. But astronomers do not have any evidence of their existence.
Miniature black holes have event horizons as small as the width of an
atomic particle and might have been created during the Big Bang, the
moment the universe was created. These miniature black holes contain as
much matter as Mt. Everest (a lightweight compared to nine times the mass
of the Sun!).
Miniature black holes might have formed during the dawn of our universe.
Between 10 and 20 billion years ago, all matter and energy was
compressed into a single point. Then this tiny point exploded (the Big
Bang) and expanded rapidly. Some parts might have expanded more
rapidly than other parts, compressing some matter and squeezing it into
miniature black holes.