**I actually am proud for writing this by myself, though the very last part, I did need slight help. Half brag of a blog. Anyway, I tried to explain in the most clear, precise English for those of you curious. If you still have any sort of question whatsoever after reading this blog, I'd be more than pleased to answer- if there is one and I know it.

Introduction

These deep, dark, and mysterious so called vacuums of space. Where do they come from? Why do they become? Do we have any control over them? Any useful knowledge?

If you've found yourself pondering about the same things I was a couple years ago, well more than a couple years back, congratulations because you've come to the right place. If not, I still believe you'd be interested in learning the deep, dark secrets outer space has contained for so long.

We're about to go on a journey to a black hole. Which black hole? I don't know, but there are so few discovered. Okay, how about we go to V4641 Sgr. Wow, a randomly picked black hole. What could you possibly know about a black hole like that?

Well actually, that isn't just a random black hole. That is the nearest black hole to our planet, Earth. Well, it was thought to be back in 1999 when it was discovered. It was thought to be only 1600 light years away before further investigation was done, putting it at a minimum of 24,000 light years away. Still closer than the one in the centre of the Milky Way galaxy.

Before we get into the creation of the black hole, I'd like to give a short backstory. V4641 Sgr was discovered in 1999 and thought to be a star at first. Closer observations, however showed it to be many times brighter than a star. This is because this was a black hole being orbited by a star in the constellation of Sagittarius. As stated earlier, they then believed it to be way closer than it actually is. Fifteen times, if you want to get into the specifics.

V4641 Sgr is a rare type of black hole called a microquaser. A microquaser is a binary star x-ray system which launches and collimates (collimate means it sends them parallel to each other) relatavistic jets (not sure of my spelling here.) which are extremely powerful jets of plasma. The ones coming from V4641 Sgr are almost the speed of light.

The Black Hole is Created

Although I don't even have an estimate as to when V4641 Sgr was formed, most black holes are extremely old. Ancient. This is saying like billions of years. Millions of billions of years. So let's just pretend for now that this one is the same age as our sun, which is still young.

So everyone, let's go back 4.5 billion years. You may see a star in the center of our solar system, the sun in its first stages, but don't pay attention to that one. The one you want to pay attention to is this one. The huge one. At least 25 times larger than our sun. You may be asking right now, "Well why are we looking at some huge star?" Mon ami, this isn't just a star. The death of an enormous star at least 25 times larger than our sun is the birth of a black hole. or well, the last stage in a star's life. i was just trying to sound cool.

Black holes are formed when a star's mass is so big, it collapses under the weight of its own gravity when it implodes. It starts pulling things in. Luckily for us, this star is huge, and so it will turn into a black hole as soon as the star implodes. If we were trying to make a black hole of a neutron star (could that even work?) it would take millions of years.

Types of Black Holes?

There are two types of black holes: Stellar mass and Supermassive. Stellar mass black holes are close in mass to our sun, while supermassive black holes have a mass of around that of a small galaxy (woah). Of course, there can be black holes in between the both. How can we tell the mass of a black hole? We can tell by the objects orbiting around it. Also, some black holes may spin (spinning black holes), while others don't. There is a vast amount of black holes, and so far, our information is limited until we further advance in technology. There is an estimated some-billion black holes in space. The same (roughly) amount as there are stars.

Black holes are able (apparently) to collide with each other and form a larger black hole. They also (thankfully) follow all laws of physics. V4641 Sgr is supermassive, most likely.

Are Black Holes Eternal?

No, even black holes have a death. As proven by Stephen Hawking, black holes slowly evaporate, returning their energy to the universe. This is somewhat explained by the quantum theory.

So What Will Happen if we Venture Into a Black Hole?

If we do decided to throw ourselves into a black hole, first off, black holes don't pull THAT strong. So if we were like 5 miles away, we wouldn't be pulled in. We'd have to be close to be pulled in. Right at the beginning, the "surface" of the black hole is called the Event Horizon also known as "The point of no return". If you go past this, there's no way of coming back.

Once you go past the event horizon, your body will be stretched apart as you get closer to the center, and by the end, your body is then compressed into the central singularity of the black hole (a single point of infinite density)

If we were to drop a clock down into a black hole?
If we were to drop a clock into a black hole and watch from afar, the falling clock's time is significantly slower than our time, never crossing the event horizon, it remains frozen in space and time. The clock also gets stretched out and redder.

If we were falling along with the clock, we wouldn't be able to perceive what was going on around us, so we'd see everything as normal, even if we got obliterated after passing the event horizon.

**I did use a site for this last section, if you'd like it, just ask. I reworded the text and put it into my own words.

In the end...

In the end, although we seem to know all of that, black holes are still a mystery to all of us. There are many things we still wonder about like, "Where do they lead to? Can we time travel through a black hole?" "Are black holes similar to worm holes?""Are there any parallel universes in the deep depths of these patches of darkness stitched into the space fabric?" We'll just have to sit down, relax, and research for now. Who knows, maybe one of you, or maybe even I will be the next to discover something about these tall, dark, and handsomes I seem to have fallen for. (Get it?)

Thank you, those who are interested in the unknown sciences of space, for reading this blog, and I hope you leave satisfied and curious.

Yours truly,
an aspiring astrophysicist.