What Causes Black Holes to Shine?

Imagine a black hole as a super hungry kid who eats everything in sight. When it swallows stars or gas, the stuff gets squished and heated up before going into the black hole, making it shine like a lightbulb from space! This glowing part is called an accretion disk.

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Examples

  1. A black hole eats a star, and the star becomes a glowing ring around it before disappearing.
  2. The hot gas swirling into a black hole looks like a fire spinning in a vacuum.
  3. Black holes can light up whole parts of the galaxy when they're eating a lot.

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