However, this is just the beginning of the story. Every Black Hole has a definite boundary which is the dead end. This is the Event Horizon, the Point Of No Return. The size of the Event Horizon is defined by the mass of the Black Hole. It can be understood as the river that ends with a waterfall. You paddle through the stream as it moves slowly. You have the control of your boat all the time and you can always turn around and use all your strength to overcome the flow and get out safely. But once you reach the Event Horizon - the top of the waterfall, you suddenly lose all control and in short, you are doomed. You start falling and no amount of force or strength gets you back to safety. This is the Point Of No Return.
Moreover, this is not the only threat around a Black Hole. Black Holes are generally orbited by celestial bodies moving at speeds close to that of light. Millions of stars, gaseous clouds, etc orbit the Black Holes and keep falling into it. This is the accretion disk. The mass moving in the accretion disk goes to such high speed that it seems to almost break the Laws Of Physics.
This brief description may cause you to think that all the danger lies close to the Black Hole. Watching it from far away must be quiet safe, isn't it? Well, hold my beer. Huge amounts of masses keep falling in the Black Holes all the time. This makes the Black Hole bulk up on tremendous amounts of energy. This energy is then released in one of the most dazzling light shows - The Gamma-Ray Bursts. Black Holes spew concentrated jets of very high energy radiation that can travel hundreds of light-years from the source. These jets have enough energy to wipe off all kinds of life from entire solar systems, let alone a small planet. On the bright side, the nearest Supermassive Black Hole lies nearly 27,000 light-years away from Earth. So, we are quite safe and need not worry. Though Black Holes are one of the scariest celestial bodies for sure.
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