What would it be like if there was a black hole inside the Sun? Science answers!

The Sun plays a fundamental role in the Solar System, especially on Earth. After all, without sunlight and radiation there would be no form of life on our planet. In addition to providing enormous amounts of energy in the form of light and heat, The sun is important for many terrestrial processes, from photosynthesis to climate regulation..

Currently, scientists say the Sun should function normally for another five billion years. Of course, nothing will happen and the universe will continue as normal. So, have you ever thought about what would happen if a supermassive black hole appeared near the Sun?

Unfortunately, the massive object will ‘engulf’ our entire star and, as a result, life on Earth will be destroyed in just 8 minutes after the solar energy is destroyed. But what if it were the other way around?

“Stars with a black hole at their center can live for surprisingly long periods of time. In fact, there may be a black hole as big as the planet Mercury at the center of our Sun without us even realizing it.Earl Patrick Bellinger, a postdoctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics (MPA) and assistant professor at Yale University, who published a study addressing the subject, said:

Some researchers wondering what would happen if the Sun swallowed a small black hole have even published papers on the subject. After all, what would happen if there was a primordial black hole inside the Sun?

TecMundo gathered information from experts in the field, astronomers and other scientists to try to explain this extraordinary situation a little more. Check out!

Black hole inside the sun

A team of astronomers has questioned the possibility of the Sun ‘swallowing’ a small primordial black hole, a cosmic object that emerged in the first moments of the universe after the Big Bang.

Scientists explain that the mass of such a structure should be approximately equal to the mass of the asteroid, and even smaller than a baseball. The study was published in the scientific journal The Astrophysical Journal. A primordial black hole in a star is not that unusual from a scientific standpoint; In fact, this is a phenomenon known as the Hawking star.

Astronomers argue that primordial black holes could be used to further explain mysteries of the cosmos, such as what dark matter is. Some theoretical models even predict that these objects are common in the universe, so it wouldn’t be that unusual to find a star swallowing such a structure.

In one thought experiment, researchers note: If countless primordial black holes were created after the beginning of the universe, some of them could be ‘absorbed’ by the formation of stars.

In this case, the newly formed star will capture it and the primordial object will occupy the center of the star. However, the black hole would gradually grow due to the high luminous flux. After analyzing thought experiments, astronomers discovered that detecting such a star would be more difficult than they imagined, as it would be almost indistinguishable compared to a normal star.

“Even if the Sun is used as an exercise, there are good reasons to think that Hawking stars will be common in globular clusters and extremely faint dwarf galaxies. This means that Hawking stars could be a tool for testing the existence of primordial black holes and their possible role as dark matter,” he said. Bellinger’s partner and co-author of the study is Matt Caplan of Illinois State University.

The main difference between a normal star like the Sun and a star that absorbs this type of object is that it will be convective, which will occur in its core. Even if, The star’s properties will remain almost the same; This is why a phenomenon of this magnitude would be so difficult to detect.

In other words, if primordial black holes really exist, one way to find them would be to search for Hawking stars through astroseismology, in which researchers use acoustic oscillations to understand a star’s core.

Anyway, It is important to emphasize that scientists do not yet know whether primordial black holes actually exist in the universe, as no detection has yet been made. But astronomers can still conduct thought experiments, like the example in question, to understand what would happen if they existed and whether they could capture a star during its formation.

Did you like the content? Stay tuned to TecMundo to continue solving more scientific mysteries like this and seize the opportunity to understand how primordial black holes may hide the answer to dark matter.