What happens when two black holes cross paths? The main question behind the design of our Death of a Black Hole T-shirt. Do they merge into one gargantuan black hole? Does one devour the other until it ceases to exist? Upon further research, many scientists and astronomers seem to have to come up with a strong theory on the matter.
What is a Black Hole anyway?
Essentially a black hole is an area of space where gravity is so strong that even light cannot escape it. Due to the strength all matter has been squeezed into a tiny space. People cannot see black holes as no light can escape them, they are invisible. However, specialist space telescopes are used to help locate and study them. Black holes can be various different sizes, some as small as one atom, but still possess great mass. (Mass being the amount of matter inside an object.) Stellar black holes are formed by the collapse of a star, this type of black hole is known as a collapsar. This is where a star falls in on itself in a gravitational collapse. They have a mass ranging from about 3 to 10 solar masses ( solar mass is used by astronomers as a basic unit of mass, a solar mass is the mass of the sun.) This unit of measurement is used to calculate the mass of stars, galaxies and even black holes. Finally, the largest black holes (that we know of...) THE SUPERMASSIVE black hole. We have a supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy, the Milky Way. These supermassive black holes have a mass more than 1 million times the size of the sun.
So back to the question at hand, do black holes merge to create colossal planet eaters? Well many scientists believe that when two black holes collide one will in fact consume the other. “They spiral toward each other and merge into a single entity” David J Eicher. Astronomers may have seen this marvel in the later part of 2021, it has been reported that they may have seen the light from the merger of two black holes! The design for our ' Death of a Black Hole' t-shirt is based of artist impression of what two black holes colliding may look like in theory.
Image credit: Caltech/R. Hurt (IPAC)
Sources:
https://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/k-4/stories/nasa-knows/what-is-a-black-hole-k4.html
https://www.space.com/42649-solar-mass.html
David J. Eicher, 2019, what happens when black holes collide? https://astronomy.com/magazine/greatest-mysteries/2019/07/27-what-happens-when-black-holes-collide
https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/black-hole-collision-may-have-exploded-with-light