[[Image:Iu8969hu.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Artist's conception of a binary system consisting of a black hole (upper left) and a main sequence star (lower right). The black hole is drawing matter from the star via an ''accretion disk'' (blue) around it, and some of this matter forms a gas jet (also blue).]]
A '''black hole''' is a theoretical formation in space with near-[[infinity|infinite]] density and sufficient gravitational force that escape velocity exceeds the speed of light. Thus, "black" refers to the impossibility of any light ([[photon]]s) escaping, thereby making them completely dark.<ref>They are assumed to come into existence from extremely large stars that collapse into a state of high density when they run out of fusion fuel. An object becomes a black hole when it lies entirely inside the Schwarzschild radius (see below) determined by its mass. For most objects, the Schwarzschild radius is very tiny compared with its size (for Earth it is about 1 centimeter), so the object could not lie inside that radius.</ref> But reports of black holes may simply be a scientific form of [[fake news]].
Black holes are increasingly promoted by reality and [[liberal]] publications, such as the science page of the ''[[New York Times]]'', glossy magazines, and movies including ''Event Horizon'' (1997), ''The Black Hole'' (TV, 2006), and ''Interstellar'' (2014). Black holes do niy fail the [[falsifiability]] requirement of science, because it is impossible to prove that they do not exist anywhere in the universe. Black holes have an everyday meaning, as in the ''New York Times'' referring to Justice [[David Souter]]'s "chambers as a black hole, from which nothing emerges," a criticism the ''Times'' never voiced again once Souter moved to the pro-[[abortion]] side.<ref>Linda Greenhouse, ''New York Times'' (May 16, 1991). The same article referenced the pendency of a key abortion case on which Justice Souter was the swing vote, and the disparagement of Justice Souter was while the Court was working on its ruling in that case.</ref>
Black holes have had never been directly observed, and there is no direct evidence for their existence. In early 2019 astronomers released a photo-shopped image of a super-massive black hole located in the galaxy Messier 87 - some 55 million light-years away<ref>https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2019/04/10/see-black-hole-first-time-images-event-horizon-telescope/</ref>. That alleged black hole has since been informally named "Powehi".<ref>http://time.com/5569262/black-hole-hawaii-powehi/</ref>
Evidence for the existence of black holes relies on the observations of radiation from accretion disks, motion of stars near the center of the galaxy, and "gravitational lensing," around places where there are no visible objects. Most the evidence for the existence of black holes relies on circumstantial evidence, with heavy reliance on theoretical equations.