There is strong observational evidence that extremely compact and massive

objects populate the Universe. One evidence comes from our own galactic centre,
from the bright radio source Sagittarius A*. Its mass has been estimated as 4.1
106 times solar mass and a size constraint of 6 light hours. The best theoretical

candidate which ts these data is a black hole. Black holes are expected to be

having a mass range between 106 and 1010 times Solar mass. They are thought to
play a central role in both the formation and growth of their host galaxies, thus
understanding theories behind it is of importance for the models of structure
formation of Universe.

The theory that black holes exists is not new. The first theory was given in 1783
when John Michelle applied Newtons gravitational theory to predict the
possibility of stars that are massive and compact such that its gravitational
attraction wont let even light to escape its field of attraction so known as dark
stars. Later many attempts were made by different scientist to find solution to
Albert Einsteins theory of relativity. One solution predicted existence of
Schwarzschild singularities which in 1967 were renamed black holes. Many
theories suggested existence of black holes before we got any evidence from
observations.

A black hole is formed when a super massive star which has used up all of its fuel
collapses under its own gravitational force. As a star burns fuel it creates large
amount of heat and an outward pressure due to exclusion principle which
counteracts the inward pull of gravity. Once the fuel present in matter is used up
it starts to cool off and thus starts contracting again. When a black hole is created
the star shrinks down to an infinitely small and infinitely dense point know as the
singularity and the surrounding boundary was called as event horizon.

In 1939, Robert Oppenheimer suggested that, gravity of any star changes the
path of light, so when the light reaches the surface of the star it bends. As
gravitational attraction gets stronger more light bends until it can no longer

escape the gravitational field. Since light, being the fastest in speed cant escape,
so nothing can escape. Hence everything else is also dragged back by the
gravitational force. So we get set of events or black hole from which it is not
possible to escape.

Roger Penrose and Stephen Hawking work (during 1965 -1970) showed that
according to theory of general relativity, there must be a singularity of infinite
density within black hole. This would be like end of time for collapsing body. All
the laws of science would break down and loose its predictability at that time but
for any observer outside the black hole predictability still is not affected as
nothing can reach from the singularity. Due to this fact Roger Penrose proposed
cosmic censorship hypothesis.

The Weak cosmic censorship hypothesis states that singularities produced by

gravitational collapse occur near places like black hole so that they remain
hidden from outside view whereas strong version of hypothesis states that in a
realistic solution singularities always lie entirely either in future(like singularity
of gravitational collapse) or entirely in past (like the Big Bang). In 1967 Werner
Israel showed that non-rotating black hole must be perfectly spherical and its
size would depend in its own mass. Later Roger Penrose and John Wheeler
suggested that black hole behaves like a ball of fluid and it indeed settle down to a
spherical state due to emission of gravitational waves. It was expected by rotating
collapsing body to be not perfectly round but have a bulge near its equator due to
its rotation.

During same time, Roy Kerr independently found a set of black hole solutions of
the equations of general relativity which suggested that shape and size of black
hole depends entirely on its mass and rate of rotation. So if rotation is zero shape
would be perfectly round else it would have a bulge outward near its equator.
This result is known by theorem A black hole has no hair.

But this understanding of black hole is now being challenged by Stephen

Hawking himself. According to earlier theory black hole is surrounded by a
boundary known as Event Horizon from where nothing escapes. The new
theory suggests that there are no fixed event horizons. He proposed that black
holes are not regimes where light cant escape to infinity. However apparent
horizons persist for some time period. This theory has challenged the old known
definition if black hole.

Black holes are now a reality although it is a good thing or bad we dont know.
Black hole also emits energy at the rate of about ten thousand megawatts. So if we
could harness its output it would be extremely beneficial. Also it can help us
access time travel. So there is a lot to research and predict theory which explains
black holes keeping in accord with Quantum mechanics and theory of relativity.