This week we have a TPL Kids website visitor who may have been
is wondering what the temperature of a black hole is.
For this wonder, we’ve found an answer in BBC Science Focus magazine:
Black holes are freezing cold on the inside, but incredibly hot just outside. The internal temperature of a black hole with the mass of our Sun is around one-millionth of a degree above absolute zero. Just outside the hole, however, the material being pulled into the hole’s gravity well is accelerated to near the speed of light. The molecules of the material collide with such vigour that it is heated up to a temperature of hundreds of millions of degrees. When astronomers study black holes, this is the material that they see.
So the next time find yourself complaining about the temperature, just remember that it is far worse inside/outside a black hole.