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event horizon
noun
: the surface of a black hole : the boundary of a black hole beyond which nothing can escape from within it
Examples of event horizon in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The alternate simulation shows a viewer orbiting close to the event horizon but escaping to safety before ever crossing it.
—Eric Lagatta, USA TODAY, 7 May 2024
In the meantime, simulations released Monday instead simply imagine what a person may see while plummeting toward a black hole's event horizon to their inevitable death.
—Eric Lagatta, USA TODAY, 7 May 2024
The simulated black hole's event horizon is about 16 million miles wide, and viewers will see a large flat cloud of hot gas and glowing structures called photon rings.
—Kerry Breen, CBS News, 7 May 2024
Light cannot escape their event horizons because the holes’ gravitational pull is so intense.
—Isaac Schultz / Gizmodo, Quartz, 7 May 2024
Neutron stars are some of the densest objects in the universe, with intense gravitational fields—but not as intense as black holes, whose gravity is so strong that not even light can escape their event horizons.
—Isaac Schultz / Gizmodo, Quartz, 7 Apr. 2024
White holes also have a singularity, but their event horizons act differently.
—Paul M. Sutter, Discover Magazine, 26 July 2023
Only within a spherical boundary surrounding the black hole known as the event horizon would a person or object get pulled inexorably inward.
—Adam Mann, Scientific American, 14 Feb. 2023
My personal theory is that 1994 represents the event horizon.
—Rory Smith, New York Times, 22 Dec. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'event horizon.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
First Known Use
1956, in the meaning defined above
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Cite this Entry
“Event horizon.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/event%20horizon. Accessed 16 Jun. 2024.
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