A Black Hole
Voyages are always tedious, but humans prefer to continue in this monotonous way because it means that no other civilization has discovered their route, which means they are safe.
In the Perseus Arm, the density of stars gradually increases, but because it is still on the edge of the spiral arm, it is not too dense. The average distance between stars is about seventy light-years, which is close enough for the route that crosses the spiral arm, so that humans do not need to worry about resources.
A technology at the level of Level 4 Civilization can obtain energy as long as there is Star System. Even without Rocky Planet, it can extract enough light elements such as Hydrogen-Helium-Hydrogen from Gaseous Planet. It can then use these elements for light Nuclear Fusion to obtain energy, and use the light Nuclear Fusion energy as a reactor to separate and obtain Antimatter of hydrogen molecules.
Of course, without Rocky Planet, it would be impossible to obtain Heavy Metal elements. However, the universe is so vast and there are so many stars in the Perseus Arm, that humans have no need to worry. If we don't have one, we can simply continue to the next Star System. After all, we won't run out of fuel on each voyage.
Faced with docking points averaging seventy light-years apart, humanity doesn't intend to travel to each star one by one. Instead, each voyage will traverse at least three hundred light-years. A fully fueled human fleet can travel five hundred light-years at a time, but traveling only three hundred light-years is primarily to conserve fuel for potential emergencies. The reason for not traveling seventy light-years at a time is for stealth and to save time.
And so, the human Great Fleet sailed along the edge of the Perseus Arm year after year.
Suddenly at some point, the Lyra received a message from the Probe Team, saying that a Medium-Mass Black Hole had been discovered near the flight path, less than 5 light-years away, and asking if the Lyra should change course.
It's less than 5 light-years away, which is very close. Getting too close would affect Warp Speed Travel, so of course we have to change course.
Upon receiving the news, the Lyra immediately instructed the "Tianhe Light" to change its course based on the detection information. Instead of changing the entire course, it made a turn in the Void, bypassing the black hole, and continued towards its destination. The human fleet had surplus fuel on each voyage, so making a few turns in space was not a problem.
After the order was relayed to the entire Great Fleet, human scientists were not idle either. After obtaining approval, they dispatched more detectors to the region where the black hole was located.
Black holes, the most mysterious celestial bodies in the universe, have been observed by humans from afar in the past. Since venturing into space, humans have been busy with other things and have never had the time or energy to get close to a black hole for observation. But this time is an opportunity.
The Great Fleet passed by a black hole, and scientists, of course, did not want to miss the opportunity to observe the black hole up close, so this black hole detection mission came about.
Unmanned probes are one aspect; scientists also deployed three Research Ship after receiving approval from the New Government Department, and the researchers themselves were on Research Ship.
Of course, since the goal was to observe the black hole up close, the New Government couldn't just send three Research Ships and unmanned Probe Spaceship; some escort warships were still needed. A small naval squadron, led by a Planet-Class Warship and carrying thousands of Sea-Class Warships, carried out the escort mission.
However, although it is said to be a close-up observation, in reality, with current human technology, it is impossible to get very close. The close-up is only relative to previous human observations of black holes.
This is a Medium-Mass Black Hole. Based on preliminary observations, scientists have estimated its mass to be approximately 130 times that of the Sun. Medium-Mass Black Hole are a type of black hole predicted by astronomical theories Earth Era, and this has been confirmed by observations during Earth Era. However, this is the first time that humans have observed it at such close range.
In terms of mass classification, the next level down is Stellar-Mass Black Hole, and the next level up is Supermassive Black Hole. Theoretically, there are also Primordial Black Hole, which are the earliest formed and have extremely small size and mass. Yes, that's right, Primordial Black Hole are not the incredibly huge black holes that people usually imagine; on the contrary, they are extremely small in size and mass.
According to the current definition in physics, the mass range of Medium-Mass Black Hole is between one hundred and one hundred thousand times the mass of the sun.
A black hole with 130 times the mass of the Sun clearly falls into this category. It is not Star-Class black hole, meaning it was not formed by Supernova Explosion a star. Humans have long speculated, and based on data obtained from Cosmic View, that such black holes are formed as a result of black hole mergers.
The scientists' mission is to collect more data on the formation and evolution of Medium-Mass Black Hole, thereby refining humanity's theory of cosmic evolution and adding more scientific observation data to the treasure trove of human science. Such scientific expeditions are crucial for a technological civilization, representing the accumulation of quantitative changes in scientific development.
Generally, when a very massive star runs out of fuel, its core collapses under Gravity, resulting in Supernova Explosion that forms a black hole. However, traditional astronomical theories suggest that stellar collapse does not produce black holes with masses between 65 and 135 solar masses.
The reason is that when the core mass of a star is greater than 65 times the mass of the Sun, the high-energy Gamma Ray inside it are effectively converted into electron-positron pairs, a phenomenon known as pair instability. The pressure generated by these particle pairs is much weaker than the pressure of photons, thus allowing Gravity to prevail.
In this way, the outer layers of the star will collapse inward, and the star's nuclear fuel will accelerate in an uncontrolled manner. As a result, the star will not leave any trace of a black hole after the explosion, but will explode and destroy itself completely.
Humans have never witnessed such a process before, but scientists can verify the correctness of this theory from another perspective by observing various types of black holes, and the black hole in front of us now is a very good object of observation.
For example, collecting complete optical images of the Accretion Disk of a black hole.
For safety reasons, the human Scientific Exploration Team is observing the black hole from a distance of one light-year, while sending unmanned probes closer to investigate the various phenomena that the black hole manifests.
This space is very empty. Judging from the age and distribution of stars in the nearby star field, it is indeed possible that two black holes merged. However, based on the current preliminary observation data, the black holes merged and formed a long time ago, at least hundreds of millions of years ago.
After humans began to seriously observe this black hole, they quickly discovered some strange phenomena.