We recently shared on MAG. What would happen if a person fell into a black hole. Now we tell you about the new NASA mission that has special black holes as its objective.
Astronomers have discovered black holes ranging from a few times the mass of the Sun to tens of billions. Now a group of scientists estimates that NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope could find the elusive “featherweight” black holes.
So far, black holes are known to form due to the collapse of a massive star or when heavy objects merge, NASA explains on its website. However, scientists suspect that “primordial” black holessmaller than those we know, include some holes with masses similar to the Earth and could have formed in the first chaotic moments of the Universe.
“Detecting a population of Earth-mass primordial black holes would be an incredible step forward for both astronomy and particle physics because these objects cannot form by any known physical process.“said William DeRocco, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Santa Cruz who led a study on how Roman could reveal them. A paper describing the results was published in the journal Physical Review D
“If we find them, it will revolutionize the field of theoretical physics”DeRocco added.
How primordial black holes would form
It is now known that the smallest black holes, about eight times the mass of the Sun, form when a massive star runs out of fuel. The star contracts and can become so dense that it becomes a black hole. Smaller stars will become white dwarfs or neutron stars.
NASA explains that conditions in the early universe may have allowed lighter black holes to be created: primordial ones.
Scientists believe that when the universe was being born it experienced a brief but intense phase known as “inflation,” when space expanded faster than the speed of light. In this scenario, areas that were denser than their surroundings may have collapsed and thus given life to primordial black holes.
Most smaller primordial black holes are thought to have evaporated already, but it is also estimated that those with a mass similar to Earth may have survived.
Why are there primordial black holes?
The theory of primordial black holes does not arise out of nowhere. Observations have already revealed some hints about these objects that would be “lurking” in our own galaxy. Primordial black holes would be invisible, NASA says, but wrinkles in space-time have helped bring together some possible suspects.
