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The belief in witches – people with supernatural powers – is ancient and universal. No one knows whether witches do actually have special powers, but from the earliest times, people in all cultures have believed that some men and women can use rituals, spells, and other magical means to influence events for good or evil. Definitions of witchcraft vary, but it is always associated with magic. Uniquely, however, in Europe from the 15^th to the 18^th centuries, witchcraft was associated with devil worship, and was punishable by death.

Magic

Magic, or sorcery , is the attempt to use supernatural or natural forces to influence events. Belief in magic has a long history – evidence of magic spells has been found in prehistoric cave paintings - and it continues today in many cultures, either as a superstition or as a religion. In some cultures, magic is considered to be sacred and is practiced by especially skilled people.

Witch trials

Persecution of supposed witches reached its height between 1580 and 1660, when trials occurred throughout Western Europe. As hysteria mounted, thousands were brought before Church and civil courts. Anyone old, alone, or eccentric could be accused, including elderly women, village midwives, and herbalists. Their persecution was fueled by gossip and rumors, which were used as evidence in court.

Familiars

Identifying witches was difficult, because they looked exactly the same as any member of society. However, medieval people believed that true witches could fly – usually on a broomstick – and were accompanied by a “familiar”, such as a cat, which was really a demon in disguise.

Torture

Suspected witches were savagely tortured in order to make them confess and also to name accomplices. Methods of torture included whipping, branding with red hot irons, stretching on the rack, thumbscrew, and the gouging out of eyes. Most people confessed to almost anything just to stop the torture.

Healing

Witchcraft has always been linked with natural religions and healing. The word “witch” comes from the Anglo-Saxon, wicca, meaning wise one, and, in medieval Europe, many so-called witches were actually village wise women, skilled in herbal cures. Today, in many Latin American and African societies, witch doctors and shamans still use herbs and rituals for healing.

Witch burning

Proving witchcraft was a difficult matter, and various tests were devised. One of these was throwing a bound person into water. If she was guilty, she floated; if innocent, she sank. Death was the usual penalty for witchcraft, particularly burning at the stake, on the grounds that this punishment mirrored the fires of hell. Many thousands were put to death this way, including Joan of Arc, the French heroine who was accused of being a witch by the English and burned at the stake in 1431.

European witch hunts

In early medieval Europe, belief in witches was a natural part of everyday life. However from the 12^th century, the Christian church redefined witchcraft as heresy, or treason against God. Witches were described as evil devil- worshipers, and the Church set up massive witch hunts in which anyone suspected of witchcraft was rounded up, tried, and often executed. The witch hunts lasted some 300 years, and at least 300,000 innocent people, mostly women, were put to death. Historians have put forward various reasons for the witch hunts. These included a general persecution of women, and the rise of medical science.

A Black Hole

Astronomers have spent much time analyzing how stars form and how they develop. One problem was to explain what happens to a massive star at the end of its life. In 1967, the term black hole was used to describe one type of object that is left when a massive star dies. Four years later, Cygnus X-1 was found, the first candidate for a black hole.

Detecting a black hole

Black holes appear black because nothing not even light, can escape from their powerful gravity. Astronomers cannot detect them directly, but can see them because of the effect their gravity has on everything around them, such ads gas from a nearby star. The boundary of a black hole is called the event horizon. Material pulled in towards the hole is swirled around by the gravity forming the disc, before crossing the horizon.

Accretion disc

The material that swirls around a black hole forms a rapidly spinning accretion disc. As the material is pulled closer to the hole, it travels faster and faster and becomes very hot from friction. Close to the hole, the material is so hot it emits X-rays before crossing the event horizon and disappearing forever. Black holes are black because no light or other radiation can escape, and a hole because nothing that crosses the event horizon can get out.

Galaxy NGC-4261 in the constellation of Virgo has what appears to be a huge accretion disc 30 million light years across- swirling around a huge black hole.

Super massive holes

Some galaxies have very active centres that give out large amount of energy. An object of powerful gravity, such as super massive black hole, could be the cause of the activity. Such a hole would be a hundred million times more massive than the sun.

Inside a black hole

Space and time are highly distorted inside a black hole. Anyone unlucky enough to fall into one would be stretched to resemble spaghetti, as gravity pulled more on the feet than the head. An observer watching the person fall would also see time running slower as the person fell towards the event horizon.

Stellar collapse

Massive stars can end their lives in an explosion, called a supernova, that leaves behind a central core. If the core’s mass is more than that of three Suns, it becomes a black hole. Gravity forces the core to collapse. As the core shrinks, its gravity increases. At a certain point it reaches a critical size that of the event horizon. Black holes have incredibly strong gravity which pulls in anything that comes close enough. Anything pulled in between the event horizon will be squashed to near infinite density and never escapes.

Roger Penrose

The English mathematician Roger Penrose (b. 1931) theorizes on the nature of space and time. He has shown that a massive collapsing star inevitably becomes a black hole, and that all black holes have a singularity- a point, occupying virtually no space, that contains the entire mass of the dead star. Penrose believes the singularity is always hidden by an event horizon.