Response Paper #1

The most recent article I read was Star Eater by Michael Finkel from National Geographic Magazine. I chose to write about this article because I'm extremely interested in the sciences of the cosmos, including astronomy, astrobiology, plantetary science and so on. This article talks specifically about the scientific understanding we have of black holes. As of now, black holes are not proven to exist but have mounds of strong evidence and theoretical studies behind them. Finkel interviews scientists to debunk some sci-fi myths about black holes, understand what a black hole is speculated to be and talk about how scientists are hoping to prove their existence in the near future.
The basic concept behind a black hole is that it is the by product of a massive star, much larger than our sun, once it has imploded in a super nova. The black hole retains the same mass as the star it once was except now it is extremely dense. So dense, in fact that even light cannot escape it's gravitational pull. Inside a black hole, matter is broken down and condensed into a singularity, something that was thought to be preposterous by Albert Einstein. The energy created by this phenomenon is released in the form of x-ray jets. Unlike popular belief, a black hole is not a vacuum, and matter will not be consumed by it unless it crosses a certain point of its gravitational pull.
How does this article relate to current events? It talks about a scientific concept that has yet to be, and soon will be, proven. Will the notion of a black hole ever physically effect society? No. Our sun will not become a black hole when it dies, and our solar system will be long dead before it has the chance to encounter the black hole at the center of the Milky Way.
I read articles like this one often to stimulate my brain and think of something much bigger and more powerful than my life. I found this article succeeded in doing so, and I will probably follow up on further studies of this theme.