• Question: what is a black hole and how are they formed

    Asked by webbo21 to Tom, Tim, Mike, Pip, Tianfu on 26 Jun 2012. This question was also asked by shaniqua.
    • Photo: Tom Lister

      Tom Lister answered on 26 Jun 2012:

      Formed when a star collapses on itself. Stars are huge and have a strong gravitational pull. They have a life cycle which includes exploding and then collapsing in on themselves a number of times. The bigger stars can collapse into quite small balls which are so dense that their gravitational pull does not let any light out – this is a black hole.

    • Photo: Tim Stephens

      Tim Stephens answered on 26 Jun 2012:

      A black hole is a dense ball of material that’s left over when a star dies. It’s so dense that its gravity is so strong that hot even light can escape.

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