Where Do Black Holes Exist?

The largest black holes are found in the center of every galaxy. Essential to the existance of each galaxy, these black holes were formed billions of years ago. While we don't know the exact age of Sagittarius A, the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, some estimates place Sagittarius A at over 13 billion years old.

While black holes are literally impossible to see, as their gravitational force is so powerful that not even light can escape, we can determine where black holes are by observing stars, clouds, and dust orbiting around an area of space that appears empty. In addition to observing the objects swirling around a black hole, scientist can study the radiation emitted to determine the location and estimate the size of the black hole.

In some scenarios, matter hurling towards the black hole can bounce off the outer event horizon, the point of no return in which everything that crosses cannot escape, and richochet in the opposite direction at extraordinary speeds. Those are easy to see.

Black holes are scattered across our galaxy and observable universe. And although some may be difficult to find, we know they're out there, and there are many.

In the middle of our galaxy lies the supermassive black hole "Sagittarius A"