Black holes are like really hungry monsters in space, they eat stars and gas, but we can still see them because of the food they leave behind. When a black hole eats something, it creates a glowing ring around it called an accretion disk, which is what we actually see. It's kind of like when you drop a cookie into hot chocolate, even though you can’t see the chocolate anymore, you can still see the cookie being cooked.
Examples
- A black hole eats a star, we see the bright ring around it like a glowing cookie being cooked in hot chocolate.
- The glowing ring is made by gas and dust that gets super hot before it disappears into the black hole.
- Imagine seeing your shadow when you stand between a flashlight and a wall, that's how we can spot a black hole.
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See also
- What Is a Black Hole — And Why Can’t We Escape One?
- How Does a Black Hole Actually Eat a Star?
- What Is a Black Hole Really Like?
- What Makes a Black Hole ‘Eternally’ Rotating?
- What Is the James Webb Space Telescope Actually Seeing?