Black holes the prima donnas of Space Opera

Black Holes: The Prima Donnas of Space Opera!

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All the world is a stage

And all the men and women mearly players

They have their exits and entrances,

And one man in his time plays many parts.

(William Shakespeare)

The whole Universe is a stageall the planets stars are like the actors they too

have their exists andentrances..they form they disintegrate and reform.

There are unaccountable universes in the Cosmos

The huge collections of suns planets moon asteroids and physical debris of

all sorts we designate as galaxies. The galaxies are moving apart further

with great speed. The center of the galaxies is dark and possesses relentless

gravitational pull. They are called Black Holes. We cannot see balck holes

but we can determine them from material falling into them.

The term black hole is ofrecent origin it was coined in 1969 by an

American scientist JohnWheeler. From where do these black holesemerge?

To understand , we must first see the life cycle of a star.

A star is formed when large amount of gas(hydrogen) starts to collapse

on itself due to gravity. As it contracts the atoms of the gas collide with

eachother. Heat is generated. The atoms coalease to form Helium then

Oxygen Carbon Iron etc etc elements are formed. Huge amount of energy

and heat is released during the nuclear reactions, explosions taking place

inside the star –is what makes the star shine.

The star remains stable for millions of years. It is a bit like a

Balloon. There is balance between the pressure of the air inside which is

trying to make the balloon expand and the tension of the rubber which

is trying to make he balloon smaller. The heat from the nuclear reaction

balancing the gravitational attraction.

When all the nuclear fuel is used up the star cools down and so it contracts.

What might happen to it then was first understood at the end of 1920.

Subramanyn Chandrashekhar: In 1928 an Indian graduate set sail for

England to study at Cambridge,with the British Scientist Sir Arthur

Eddington an expert in general relativity.

S. Chandrashekahar framed that when a cold star(dying star) who's mass is more

than one and a half time the mass of the sun( this mass is known

Chandrashekhar Limit.) it would not be able to support itself against

its own gravity, it would collapse and form a stellar remnant(Neutron Star)

or a Black hole.

The boundry of the black hole is called the event horizon. The

point of no return. The light too cannot escape. Black holes of

Stellar mass are expected to form when very massive stars collapse

at the end of their lifecycle.

Eddington did not approve that a star shrinking to zero as per Chandrashekar. A lot of controversy sparked amongs the scientist.

Later in the year 1983 Chandrashekar was awarded Nobel Prize

for his work on the limiting mass of cold stars

There is a strong evidence of a black hole of more than four million solar masses at the center of our galaxy-Milky Way.

Endless process of destruction and regeneration is going on and on inside the black holes they indeed are the prima donna of Space Opera …..

Another and another cup to drown,

The memory of this Impertinence!

(Omar Khayyam)

By

Prajakta Dighe

My above article got published in The Hitavada dated 6/5/2012