A black hole is a place in space. Gravity there is so strong. Even light cannot get out.

Black holes are invisible. That is because no light comes out of them.

A black hole is a lot of matter. It is squeezed into a very small space.

Black holes do not roam space eating stars and planets. Black holes grow bigger when they take in more stuff.

Some black holes are born when a big star explodes. A supernova is a star that explodes.

The edge of a black hole is the event horizon. Nothing can come back out once it crosses it.

Black holes come in different sizes. The biggest are called supermassive black holes. Some have as much mass as millions of Suns. Our Milky Way galaxy has a giant black hole at its center.

Gas that falls toward a black hole gets very hot. It glows. We can see the glow, but not the black hole.

In 2019, scientists showed the first black hole picture. It was in a galaxy called Messier 87. It shows a bright ring. In the middle is a dark spot.

Words to know

• horizon: its edge
• supermassive: biggest black holes
• invisible: not seen