What are they ?
In essence, they are an object in space whose gravity is so powerful that nothing can escape its gravity pull. The common theory for their creation is that they were created when a star explodes. All stars will die at one time, once their fuel (predominantly hydrogen) runs out. When they do, they become one of three items in space, a white dwarf, a neutron star or a black hole. To find out which type they become, I recommend the Formations link on the left. Particles from the star that do not form into one of those will journey into space and get pulled into being an object round another star. It is believed that a star close by Earth exploded and its left over material was used in the creation of our planets. A black hole's gravity is so strong that they can pull in light. They can destroy anything that gets in their way including our own Sun and any Star even if they're ten times bigger than the star that our planet orbits. If you were in a spaceship that is faced with a black hole in its path, you would be lucky to escape. The Black hole would pull you into its core and crush you to a pulp. If you end up being pulled into a black hole, your ship will be destroyed and then spurted out either at the top or the bottom of the black hole.

Where are they?
They're out there, you can't see them like you can see the planets, the moon or the stars but they are there. It is because they are the same colour as the void of space that we can't see them straightaway. With a bit of patience and the right equipment, we can find them. The most famous Black hole that has been discovered is 'Cygnus X-1'. Since the 1970s, more have been discovered. The only way to spot one is to watch an area of space; if the lights from the stars change inexplicable then it could be put down to the fact that the light is being affected by the black hole. A black hole could be close by but we would get some time to escape. They move slowly through space. There's no knocking it off course like we would with a meteor. The only thing we could do is run and find another solar system to inhabit if we get the technology in time.

What is an Event Horizon?
It is the point from the black hole at which not even light can escape. If you reach that point, your spacecraft will need to travel many times the speed of light to escape.

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