A Black Hole Isn't Black

Little Stevie had a passion for stars. He dreamed about them, read about them and watched everything he could get his hands on. His bedroom was painted a deep blue just for him. There were glow-in-the-dark stars and hanging whirling mobiles of planets.

His mother told him: “Stevie, do you know that there was a famous scientist named Stephen, too? He was also fascinated by stars. Just like you! And he especially liked black holes.”
Stevie listened with excitement as his mother showed him pictures of the famous scientist in a book. He was thrilled that there was someone famous who was similar to him. And so his favorite - his new obsession - was finding out all he could about black holes.

They were the most mysterious, the strangest and the hungriest thing in outer space! He thought they were amazing, so he told anyone and everyone he knew about them.

"Did you know black holes aren't black? They're invisible because they eat everything nearby! They even gobble up light, so you can't see them," he told his grandpa John while they were making popcorn.

"Is that so?" replied his grandpa. "So how do they know they're there if they're invisible?"

"Because of the stardust and stars and even galaxies. The black holes leave an empty space from when they're slurping stuff up."

The next day: "Did you know black holes are like giant vacuums?" he asked his neighbor, Mrs. Menken, while she was sweeping her porch. She shook her head, listening to him while she worked. "But they don't suck things up like vacuums. They use gra-vi-ty. It's a powerful force that pulls objects towards each other. The black hole doesn't even have to move. Everything is simply attracted to it! And the black hole…