Black Holes Come In Many Forms

In cosmology understanding black holes is a crucial area of study and ultimately may lead to resolving one of the biggest mysteries in physics, the combination of quantum mechanics and general relativity.

The simplest black holes are formed from collapsed stars. When a star runs out of its fuel and fusion of smaller elements into heavier elements stops. At that point the outward pressure of the fusion process is too weak to resist the inward pull and pressure of gravity, so the star collapses inwards in massively violent explosive process called a supernova.

Huge supermassive black holes are found at the centre of most large galaxies and it is still not clear how some of the largest of these formed.

Intermediate mass black holes are, so far, very few in number and this represents another mystery in cosmology.