By The Wonderful and Amazing

Antonio R. and Ashley C.

How are Black Holes formed?

    Black holes are formed from neutron stars, the final stage of stellar evolution. Neutron stars are mostly composed of compressed neutrons, as the name implies. These neutrons are undergoing rapid gravitational collapse. If the mass of the neutron star is less than ~2 solar masses, than it can probably subsidize and spend the rest of time cooling off. If the mass is more, than it will most likely under go continued evolution and thus continue to collapse. The force or pressure that opposes the gravitational collapse is called neutron degeneracy pressure.

We acknowledge NASA and STScI for their use of image NGC 4261 WFPC    

    For most of a star's life, gravity and pressure are balanced equally and that makes the star stable. When a star runs out of nuclear fuel,  gravity gets the upper hand and the material in the core gets compressed even further. The more massive the core of the star, the greater the force of gravity that compresses the material, collapsing it under it's own weight. For small stars, When the nuclear fuel is exhausted and there are no more nuclear reactions to fight gravity, the repulsive force among electrons with in the stars eventually create enough pressure to halt further gravitational collapse. The star then cools and dies peacefully. When a very massive star exerts it's nuclear fuel it explodes as a supernova. The outer parts of the star are expelled violently into space, while the core completely collapses under it's own weight.