Knowledge Question: Are some things unknowable?
Element: Methods and tools
Theme: Knowledge and the knower
Object: The picture of a black hole
The idea of an object in space so dense that even light can’t escape it was predicted by Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity. Since then, it has been a subject of a great enigma among the citizens of Earth. Almost everything around us and on our planet has been discovered and acknowledged by Science, even the extinct ones. This has been done because of the advancements in technology. But for the new knowledge of black holes, there was no absolute certainty about their existence, they were just theoretical. There was also no way of searching for them since they have so much matter that even the concept of time and space bends around them.
People, scientists especially are always keen on keeping themselves one step ahead and to seek knowledge about the unknown. The first picture of a black hole was captured in 2019, The image had emerged through two years of computer analysis and made the theory of Black holes a reality.
Einstein’s theory said, when too much matter or energy is concentrated in one place, space-time would collapse, trapping matter and light in perpetuity. This sparked interest in people, scientists, and astrologists. But even though the aspect of eternity is intriguing, there is no way to find out. If the said things about the black hole are true, we will not survive it if we were to discover it in our proximity.
Although our knowledge about Black holes have developed over the years from when it was first predicted, we still know far too less. The astrologists and scientists are determined to understand and learn more about it but, for something that it far bigger than time and space itself, it will remain unknown for many more years to come.
Reference
Overbye, Dennis. “Darkness Visible, Finally: Astronomers Capture First-Ever Image of a Black Hole.” The New York Times, 10 Apr. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/04/10/science/black-hole-picture.html.
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