Primordial Black Holes
This artist's concept takes a fanciful approach to imagining small primordial black holes. In reality, such tiny black holes would have a difficult time forming the accretion disks that make them visible here.
Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Animated version of the above.
Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
This artist's concept takes a fanciful approach to imagining small primordial black holes. In reality, such tiny black holes would have a difficult time forming the accretion disks that make them visible here. Brief, animated GIF.
Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Stephen Hawking theorized that black holes can slowly shrink as radiation escapes. The slow leak of what’s now known as Hawking radiation would, over time, cause the black hole to simply evaporate. This infographic shows the estimated lifetimes and event horizon –– the point past which infalling objects can’t escape a black hole’s gravitational grip –– diameters for black holes of various small masses.
Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. However, individual items should be credited as indicated above.
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Graphics
- Scott Wiessinger (KBR Wyle Services, LLC)
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Science writer
- Ashley Balzer (ADNET Systems, Inc.)
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Visualizer
- Jeremy Schnittman (NASA/GSFC)
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Support
- Francis Reddy (University of Maryland College Park)
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Scientist
- Jeremy Schnittman (NASA/GSFC)
Release date
This page was originally published on Tuesday, May 7, 2024.
This page was last updated on Tuesday, May 7, 2024 at 9:20 AM EDT.