A thimble-full of matter from a neutron star would weigh about 100 million tons. For a black hole, the weight would be infinitely greater. It is not surprising that astronomers regarded such objects as the play toys of theoretical physicists. Then, in the mid 1960’s, the discovery of pulsars and quasars completely changed the picture. The name black holes was coined in 1968. Prior to that, these theoretical objects were simply known as dark bodies from which light could not escape.
Current theory has it that the source of novas and supernova is the gravitational collapse of spent stars. For stars near the mass of our sun the final result is the formation of a white dwarf. For stars more than about 5 times the mass of the sun, the result is a neutron star. For stars certainly greater than about 8 solar masses and perhaps as much as 25 solar masses, the result may be a black hole. In the final blast initiating neutron star formation, vast quantities of tiny uncharged particles, the neutrinos, are released.
The formation of a neutron star is clearly being described in The Urantia Book (p.474, 42:4.12) where it is stated that the gravity collapse of massive stars is accompanied by release of vast numbers of tiny uncharged particles. Such particles are not released in the formation of white dwarfs or black holes. The existence of these particles (the neutrinos) was not demonstrated until 1956. The first identification of a neutron star was made in 1967.
The Urantia Book (p. 173, 15:6.6) also tells us that some “dark islands of space” are the remains of dead suns, devoid of light and heat, and that their density is “well nigh unbelievable”. This is a description of a black hole (neutron stars can emit pulses of light, i.e., Crab nebula ). There are many references to like objects in The Urantia Book some of which are used by the Power Directors to ensure gravitational stability of many different systems and in the control of energy flow.
In one interesting reference concerning the formation of our solar system, the Book (p.655, 57:4.5) describes the center of the Angona system as a “dark giant of space, solid, highly charged, and possessing enormous gravity pull”, probably a “charged” black hole. The theory of charged black holes was developed in the 1960’s by Keff and Newman. The concept of highly charged black holes (IxIO20 volts) has recently come of age in attempts to account for the power output of quasars (see Scientific American reference).
REFERENCES: The Urantia Book, pages 173, 474, 655; Hoyle and Narliker, “The Physics- Astronomy Frontier” (1980), p.205.(Freeman & Co.); Scientific American (1988) 258(4),45; K.T. Glasziou, 6-0-6 Newsletter Vol 10 (1) Jan/Feb 1989; Brotherhood of Man Library file GLASZ12.DOC, 1989.
A thimbleful of matter from a neutron star would weigh about 100 million tons! For a black hole, the w6ight would be infinitely greater! It is not surprising that, until recently, astronomers regarded such fanciful objects as the play toys of theoretical physicists. Then, in the mid-1960’s, the discovery of mysterious stellar objects, the pulsars and the quasars, completely changed the picture.
Dark bodies, having gravitational pull such that light could not escape, were predicted on theoretical grounds about 200 years ago by Michell and also by the French mathematician, Laplace. The theory was based on Newton’s corpuscular theory of light and his theory of gravitation. However, about 100 years later, Maxwell’s wave theory of light put an end to such speculation at least until Newton’s description of gravity was replaced by that of Einstein in the early part of this century. Einstein’s theory allowed that light waves could be trapped by gravity but the concept of Laplace’s dark bodies remained a play toy for theoretical physicists until the discovery of pulsars and quasars using radio-telescopes. These strange objects appeared to have extraordinarily large mass relative to their small size, an observation that forced the refocusing of attention upon speculative objects such as neutron stars and Laplace’s dark bodies.
In 1968 the name “dark body”, was replaced with “black hole”. Naturally, The Urantia Book uses the old terminology. Current theory has it that the source of novas and supernovas is the gravitational collapse of spent stars. For stars near the mass of our sun, the final result is the formation of a white dwarf with density such that a thimbleful would weigh about 1O tons. For stars more than about 5 times the mass of the sun, the result is a neutron star with density 100 million tons per thimble. During the final blast initiating neutron star formation, vast quantities of tiny uncharged particles, the neutrinos, are released. This does not happen during the formation of white dwarfs. For stars with mass certainly greater than 8 solar masses, perhaps as much as about 25 times that of our sun, the ultimate fate is contraction to a black hole of such enormous density that, once inside, nothing can escape its gravitational grasp. (note: very slow leakage of energy is thought to be possible via a process described by Stephen Hawkins)
The formation of a neutron star is clearly being described in The Urantia Book(p.464, 41:8.2) where it is stated that the gravity collapse of massive stars is accompanied by release of vast numbers of tiny uncharged particles. The mother sphere of the Crab nebula is described as being the remnant of one such gravitational collapse. The existence of the tiny uncharged particles, the neutrinos, was not demonstrated until 1956. The Urantia Book (p. 173, 15:6.6) also tells us that some “dark islands of space” are the remains of dead suns, devoid of light and heat, and that their density is “well nigh unbelievable”. We now know that the neutron star which is the mother sphere of the Crab nebula is a pulsar, and that it gives off visible light as well as pulsed radio waves and X-rays. fience, the “unbelievably dense dark bodies” of The Urantia Book that are devoid of light and heat cannot be neutron stars, and surely must be what we now call black holes.
During the 1960’s it was realized that the Nordstrom-Reissner (1916) solution to Einstein’s equations describing the gravitational field of a static electric charge allowed for a charged black hole, the theory of which was developed by Kerr and Newmann. However, in his book “The Universe” (1985), W. Kaufmann tells us that a black hole is not expected to possess any appreciable electric charge, and that astronomers neglect electric charge when discussing black holes. Kaufmann also tells us that although a black hole can have a tiny electric charge, it cannot have any magnetic field whatsoever. He states that Einstein’s equations do not permit a north pole/south pole asymmetry around a black hole.
Quite recently, the idea that a black hole could not be highly charged has been reversed (Price and Thorne, 1988). Highly charged black holes with an immense potential difference at the poles of the order of 1 x 10^20 volts, have now been invoked to account for the enormous power output of quasars.
In describing the formation of our solar system, The Urantia Book (p. 655, 57:5.1) tells of the approach of the Angona system, describing its center as a “dark giant of space, solid, highly charged, and possessing enormous gravity pull”. This description now aligns with most recent concepts regarding black holes.
The Urantia Book also tells us that:
“Some of the dark islands of space are burned-out isolated suns, all available space-energy having been emitted. The organized units of matter approximate full condensation, virtual complete consolidation; and it requires ages upon ages for such enormous masses of highly condensed matter to be recharged in the circuits of space and thus to be prepared for New cycles of universe function following a collision or some equally revivifying cosmic happening.”
Urantia Evidence 