8 Things You've Always Wanted To Know About Black Holes

From singularities to wormholes, welcome to the weirdest thing in the universe.

By Stevie Shephard /

Black holes are some of the most mysterious things in the universe.

Advertisement

These elusive objects are sort of half maths, half real, and are such extreme environments that they cause the laws of physics and the very fabric of reality to break down around them.

Most of the time, we see black holes in our media as great cosmic plug holes that greedily hoover up any unfortunate stars and galaxies that cross their paths. The reality, however, is much, much weirder.

Advertisement

Even the cleverest boffins are still trying to figure them out, and this has resulted in a lot of crazy theories flying around. There are some who think that black holes might actually be "hairy", and some who think that they could even turn themselves inside out when your back is turned. There are even those who think that we might actually be living inside one.

Add all of this to the fact that some of the most integral parts of them don't actually exist, and you can begin to understand why black holes are still keeping the likes of Stephen Hawking up at night.

Advertisement