The re ' s a Ho le in my G alaxy
Au th or: Ananya D as gupt a Illu stra tor: Chaaya P r abhat
It i s the year 2563 on p l anet Earth.
Maya’s f ami l y owns a roc ket s hi p . But s he i s not al l owed to us e i t. Not wi thout a g rown-up .
Ava real l y wants to s ee Pl uto. She i s Maya’s b es t f ri end and l oves everythi ng ab out s p ac e and as tronomy. She wants Maya to f l y her to Pl uto.
“Pl eas e, ” s ays Ava. “Pl eas e,
p l eas e.”
“My p arents wi l l b e ang ry, ”
Maya p rotes ts .
“They’re out f or the weekend , and i t’s not that
f ar to Pl uto. We’l l b e b ac k
b ef ore your p arents return, ”
p romi s es Ava.
Maya rel uc tantl y ag rees . Her
b rother Reyhaan tag s al ong .
The three f ri end s s oar of f
f rom Earth on a hot s ummer
ni g ht. Ava b ounc es wi th exc i tement.
Ava s tarts reel i ng of f f ac ts ab out the Sol ar Sys tem. “Do you know that one d ay the s un wi l l d i e?” as ks Ava.
“You s ay the s trang es t thi ng s , Ava. How c an the s un d i e?” as ks Reyhaan.
“The s un g ets i ts energ y by b urni ng hyd rog en to p rod uc e hel i um.
Sl owl y, al l i ts hyd rog en wi l l g et us ed up . Prob ab l y i n f i ve b i l l i on years , ” s ays Ava.
Ava tel l s Reyhaan that when a s tar the s i ze of the s un d i es , i t
b ec omes a whi te d warf . When a s tar b i g g er than the s un d i es , i t
b ec omes a b l ac k hol e.
Sud d enl y, there i s a l oud b eep i ng .
‘ALER T! ALER T! HEAVY OBJECT PULLI NG SHI P OFF COUR SE,’ s ays the c omp uter.
The f ri end s s tare at the s c reen. “But I c an’t s ee anythi ng , ” s ays Reyhaan.
“No, l ook, ” s ays Maya. “The s tars i n Ori on’s Bel t are no l ong er i n a s trai g ht l i ne.”
Ava g ul p s . “I...I...I thi nk we are near a b l ac k hol e. The g ravi tati onal f i el d of the b l ac k hol e i s b end i ng the l i g ht of the s tars near i t, l i ke a l ens b end s l i g ht that p as s es throug h i t.”
‘CONFI R MATI ON. BLACK HOLE TWI CE AS HEAVY AS THE SUN. MOVI NG AT THE SPEED OF THE SHI P. BLACK HOLE EVENT HOR I ZON 5 KI LOMETR ES AWAY.’
“BLACK HOLE?” Maya and Reyhaan as k tog ether.
“W...w...we need to move away NOW, ” Ava s tammers .
“If we reac h the b l ac k hol e, we wi l l b e s uc ked i n f orever!”
“Why?” d emand s Reyhaan.
“Fi rs t l et’s g et away!” Ava
s ays , al mos t i n tears .
Maya i s s haki ng wi th f ear.
She yel l s c ommand s at the c omp uter.
“Ful l p ower, d oub l e p ower. Ac c el erate away f rom the b l ac k hol e. Put everythi ng you have!”
BOOSTER S.’
But the p ul l i s too s trong .
‘
APPR OACHI NG BLACK
HOLE. 4 KI LOMETR ES TO
EVENT HOR I ZON. 3
KI LOMETR ES. 2
KI LOMETR ES.’
“We’re b ei ng p ul l ed toward s i t, ” Maya s ays .
Sud d enl y, the c omp uter
announc es , ‘HOLDI NG AT 1
KI LOMETR E. 500 METR ES
AWAY FR OM EVENT
HOR I ZON. MAXI MUM
POWER .
HOLDI NG. HOLDI NG.
HOLDI NG. HOLDI NG...’
The roc ket remai ns moti onl es s . A s i l ent tug -of -war i s taki ng p l ac e.
On one s i d e i s the terri b l e g ravi tati onal p ul l of the b l ac k hol e. On the other s i d e i s the p ower of the s up er new-g enerati on roc ket.
The c omp uter announc es , ‘PULLI NG AWAY. 1 KI LOMETR E, 1.5
KI LOMETR ES, 2 KI LOMETR ES AWAY FR OM EVENT HOR I ZON.
MOVI NG AWAY FR OM BLACK HOLE.’
The three f ri end s , who have b een c l i ng i ng to eac h other al l thi s
whi l e, l et g o and d rop to thei r s eats .
Al l they want i s to return home. To Earth.
Maya makes s ure the s p ac es hi p i s on the ri g ht c ours e and then as ks ,
“Ava, what hap p ened j us t now? What exac tl y i s a b l ac k hol e?”
Ava takes a d eep b reath and exp l ai ns that when a s tar l arg er than the s un d i es , i t c ol l ap s es i nto i ts el f . It s q ueezes i nto nothi ng and b ec omes l i ke a hol e i n s p ac e.
“Even ti me b ehaves f unni l y i ns i d e and near a b l ac k hol e. It runs at a d i f f erent rate near the b l ac k hol e f rom anywhere el s e, ” s he s ays .
“What hap p ens when s omethi ng l i ke a roc ket s hi p f al l s i nto a b l ac k hol e?” as ks Reyhaan.
“Wel l , i t i s s uc ked i nto the c entre of the b l ac k hol e and i s torn i nto nothi ng , ”
Ava s ays .
Reyhaan s q ueal s , “Seri ous l y?”
He and Maya real i s e that they have had a narrow es c ap e.
“Can nothi ng c ome out of a b l ac k hol e?” Maya as ks .
Ava s hakes her head . “Not even l i g ht c omes out of a b l ac k hol e.
The event hori zon of the b l ac k hol e i s the p oi nt of no return.
Anythi ng that f al l s i nto the event hori zon i s l os t f orever to the outs i d e worl d . ”
Reyhaan s hud d ers b ut Maya has more q ues ti ons . She wants to know how many b l ac k hol es there are i n the uni vers e.
“Nob od y i s real l y s ure, ” s ays Ava, “But s c i enti s ts g ues s that there i s , p erhap s , one
b l ac k hol e f or every thous and s tars i n the uni vers e. If thi s i s ri g ht, then there are a
b i l l i on b i l l i on b l ac k hol es i n total . ”
Ava exp l ai ns that s ome b l ac k hol es have a mas s of ab out that of the s un.
But other b l ac k hol es are muc h b i g g er.
“There i s a hug e one ri g ht i n the mi d d l e of our g al axy, wi th a mas s of more than a mi l l i on s uns , ” s he s ays .
Reyhaan and Maya l ook nervous . Ava as s ures them that i t i s f ar, f ar away. Ab out 30 mi l l i on b i l l i on ki l ometres away.
The roc ket zooms toward s Earth.
“I want to g et home now, ” s ays Reyhaan.
“I thi nk we are very c l os e, ” Maya s ays .
To everyone’s rel i ef , the c omp uter announc es , ‘L AN D IN G. WE LCOME BACK TO E ARTH.’
The three of them rus h out of the s hi p i nto Maya and Reyhaan’s b ac kyard . They are s tunned by the c hi l l y wi nd s that hi t thei r f ac es .
“Di d n’t we l eave when i t was s up er hot? And I thoug ht we were away f rom home f or j us t a f ew hours , ” s ays Maya.
“Maya...Reyhaan...It’s wi nter...” s ays Ava.
Maya f i ni s hes Ava’s thoug ht, “Ti me runs at a d i f f erent rate near the b l ac k hol e f rom anywhere el s e.”
In the ti me that they had s p ent f i g hti ng the b l ac k hol e, s i x months had g one by on Earth.
Maya and Reyhaan’s p arents had c ome b ac k f rom thei r weekend tri p months ag o. The three f ri end s are i n b i g troub l e!
What is a Black Hole?
The Indian s c ientis t Subrahmanyan C handras ek har firs t unders tood that big s tars
c ollaps e into blac k holes . This dis c overy won him the Nobel Prize. Blac k holes are the dens es t objec ts in the univers e. No objec t of the s ame mas s c an oc c upy les s s pac e than a blac k hole.
Throwing things into a blac k hole makes it bigger, but it is almos t impos s ible to make blac k holes s maller.
Sc ientis ts believe that blac k holes les s than 3 k m in radius are not formed from c ollaps ing s tars . But tiny blac k holes may have been produc ed during the early univers e and may have s tuc k around.
Event Horizon: It’s the boundary of the region of no return. W hile objec ts outs ide the event horizon c an es c ape from the blac k hole, objec ts that c ros s it never c ome out again.
Mass: Roughly, it’s the weight of an objec t. More prec is ely, a meas ure of how diffic ult it is to ac c elerate (to move) an objec t.
All the weird properties of blac k holes illus trated in this s tory are ac c urate. However, even with very advanc ed tec hnology, our s tory is a fantas y.
A roc ket would have to travel at about a quarter of the s peed of light (75,000 k m/ s ) to make it to Pluto and bac k in a day. Pas s engers ac c elerating to this s peed over a c ouple of hours would ex perienc e a forc e about a thous and times their weight. They would be s ubjec t to even greater forc es while hovering very near a blac k hole. Human bodies c annot withs tand thes e forc es .
Als o, for dramatic effec t, we have greatly ex aggerated the differenc e in time pas s ed on Earth.
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T here's a Hol e i n my Gal ax y
(Eng l i sh)
Three fri ends bl ast off from Earth i n a rocket to expl ore the Sol ar System. Suddenl y, they fi nd themsel ves bei ng pul l ed by a bl ack hol e. Do they manage to escape? Fi nd out what happens on thi s space odyssey.
This is a Level 4 bo o k f o r c hildr en w ho c an r ead f luent ly and w it h c o nf idenc e.
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