How Do Black Holes Form?

Some black holes form when a massive star collapses into itself. But many mysteries still remain around these strange objects.

By Korey Haynes
Feb 23, 2020 3:00 PMMay 19, 2020 5:29 AM
star falls into black hole - shutterstock
(Credit: Jurik Peter/Shutterstock)

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The most well-understood black holes are created when a massive star reaches the end of its life and implodes, collapsing in on itself.

A black hole takes up zero space, but does have mass — originally, most of the mass that used to be a star. And black holes get “bigger” (technically, more massive) as they consume matter near them. The bigger they are, the larger a zone of “no return” they have, where anything entering their territory is irrevocably lost to the black hole. This point of no return is called the event horizon.

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