Question

Read the excerpt from Neil deGrasse Tyson’s “Death by Black Hole.”

As far as I know, nobody has ever been eaten by a black hole, but there is compelling evidence to suggest that black holes in the universe routinely dine upon wayward stars and unsuspecting gas clouds. As a cloud approaches a black hole, it hardly ever falls straight in. Unlike your choreographed feet-first fall, a gas cloud is typically drawn into orbit before it spirals to its destruction. The parts of the cloud that are closer to the black hole will orbit faster than the parts that are farther away. Known as differential rotation, this simple shearing can have extraordinary astrophysical consequences. As the cloud layers spiral closer to the event horizon they heat up, from internal friction, to upwards of a million degrees— much hotter than any known star. The gas glows blue-hot as it becomes a copious source of ultraviolet and x-ray energy. What started as an isolated, invisible black hole (minding its own business) has now become an invisible black hole encircled by a gaseous speedway, ablaze with high-energy radiation.

Which of the following suggestions would be most beneficial for a reader in order to gain a better understanding of the information presented in this excerpt?
Skim encyclopedias to learn star names and locations.
Review scientific journals explaining the various types of clouds.
Read a variety of sources about the formation of black holes.
Search web pages focused on personal encounters with black holes.

Answer 1

Read a variety of sources about the formation of black holes.

Reason: the passage discusses how black holes interact with surrounding matter (accretion, event horizon, differential rotation, high-energy emission). Background reading on black holes—how they form, their structure, and how they accrete matter—will best help a reader understand those processes. The other options are less relevant.