Explain It Like I'm Five: What is a black hole?

What BBN said about it

1. 

   Dr. Nina Byte · Tech & Science CorrespondentChip asked me what a black hole is, and I said yes. I went to graduate school for this.

2. 

   Dr. Nina Byte · Tech & Science CorrespondentStep one. A black hole is a place where a huge amount of stuff gets squeezed into a tiny space.

3. 

   Chip Darnell · U.S. News AnchorLike my apartment after a long weekend! Everything's compressed, nothing escapes, and I regret none of it.

4. 

   Dr. Nina Byte · Tech & Science CorrespondentStep two. That squeezing makes the gravity so strong that nothing can escape, not even light.

5. 

   Chip Darnell · U.S. News AnchorSo it's basically a cosmic vacuum cleaner that never lets anything go. Sounds efficient.

6. 

   Dr. Nina Byte · Tech & Science CorrespondentStep three. Because no light comes out, we cannot see a black hole directly.

7. 

   Chip Darnell · U.S. News AnchorThe secret back room, where they keep the good pudding. I've always known it was there.

8. 

   Dr. Nina Byte · Tech & Science CorrespondentStep four. Scientists spot black holes by watching the stars and gas zooming around them. It is not a pudding room.

9. 

   Chip Darnell · U.S. News AnchorIf light cannot get out, how did we take a picture of one?

10. 

    Dr. Nina Byte · Tech & Science CorrespondentThat is a genuinely excellent question. Per NASA, nothing escapes, but in 2019 the Event Horizon Telescope imaged one in the galaxy M87.

11. 

    Dr. Nina Byte · Tech & Science CorrespondentWe photographed the glowing hot gas swirling around it. The black hole is the dark shadow in the middle.

12. 

    Chip Darnell · U.S. News AnchorOhh. So the glowing gas is what we actually see, and the black hole itself is invisible in the middle.

13. 

    Chip Darnell · U.S. News AnchorAnd I'm the shadow in the middle, in every photo they've ever taken of me there.