Black Holes Can Kill Us From Light-Years Away

People think that black holes are dead spaces in the universe. But apparently, black holes can cause damages that can even reach the Earth according to research.

The vastness of the universe and the celestial bodies moving in deep space is so overwhelming that sometimes, even experts are scared of what the future could bring. Asteroids can destroy Earth on an impact, or the Sun may stop emitting energy that the Earth needs. But aside from that, there's a new element from space that could potentially harm the Earth.

Apparently, black holes are capable of emitting Gamma Ray Bursts or electromagnetic waves that are packed with energy are like lasers firing in space. A single gamma ray photon contains energy that is more than that of one million visible light photons according to a video posted by Kurzgesagt.

But experts say that there's no reason to cause panic since the ozone layer that cannot be penetrated by gamma rays protects the Earth. But gamma-ray bursts are different and are more powerful.

Black holes collecting energy from every star even at 100 million light-years away and then combining all that energy into a single laser that turns out to be gamma ray bursts, according to Gizmodo.

These bursts are so powerful that it is even called "death from space." Reports say that these bursts can cut through space leaving a trail of destruction behind and that it has the capacity to obliterate Earth.

Fortunately for Earth, the ozone layer can be a layer of protection against gamma rays. To add to that, satellites that serve as the eyes of the Earth in space can also detect the presence of gamma rays.

According to the study presented in the video, there are two types of gamma-ray bursts namely large burst and short burst. Large burst happens when supernovae die and collapse into a black hole while the short burst is also produced by black holes and it occurs when two neuron stars in a binary system collide and forms a black hole; the second one takes millions of years to occur.

Today, satellites can detect at least one gamma ray burst per day, according to Huffington Post. But bursts are not a threat to Earth since they occur very far away from Earth. Experts say that if it happens at even a few light years away, it can obliterate the Earth. But so far, experts haven't detected a gamma ray burst that originated from the Milky Way galaxy and more and more people hope that it stays that way.