Stephen Hawking hypothesized that black holes can slowly shrink as radiation is emitted from them. The slow leakage of what is now known as Hawking radiation will, over time, cause the black hole to simply evaporate. This infographic shows the estimates of the lifetime and diameter of the event horizon – the point beyond which objects cannot fall into the black hole and escape its gravity – for black holes of various small masses. Credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.