Black hole A black hole is an incredibly dense remnant of a star that has collapsed into a singularity under its own gravity upon running out of fuel . Black holes have extremely strong gravitational fields , similar to cosmic string fragments , so powerful that not even light can escape . Encounters . The late - 20th century NASA probe " Voyager 6 " disappeared into what was once called a black hole ( see " V ' ger " ) , emerging on the other side of the galaxy , where it came into the possession of a race of sentient machines . The machine race constructed a massive vessel around the probe to facilitate its mission of acquiring all knowledge , and it began its journey back to Earth . ( ) As of 2152 , Vulcan s had charted over 2 , 000 black holes . In 2152 , encountered a black hole that was part of a trinary system , something unheard of by either Starfleet or Vulcan scientists . Attempting to study the black hole , the " Enterprise " crew became affected by an exotic form of radiation which caused nearly all members of the crew to exhibit irrational and obsessive behavior . Sub - Commander T ' Pol , whose Vulcan physiology was immune to the radiation , performed an analysis which indicated that prolonged exposure to the radiation would be fatal to the crew , forcing her and Captain Archer to navigate " Enterprise " through a hazardous debris field in order to escape the influence of the radiation in time . ( ) In 2259 , " Takayama " type shuttlecraft s were equipped with sensor s that could analyze black holes . ( ) In 2366 , the engaged in an operation to stabilize the moon of Bre ' el IV , which was in danger of crashing into the planet . The crew was informed by Q that the deterioration of the moon ' s orbit was most likely caused by a black hole passing through the star system ' s plane at near - right angles . ( ) In 2369 , the crew of the " Enterprise " - D encountered a race of aliens from another time continuum , who utilized the gravity wells of black holes as nests for their young . The aliens had mistaken a Romulan vessel ' s artificial quantum singularity , which the Romulan s used as a power source , for a natural black hole , and their young became trapped . When the " Enterprise " generated a power transfer beam to send energy to the Romulan ship , it resulted in the creation of a temporal aperture , which disrupted spacetime around the ships and created a series of temporal fragment s . With the help of the " Enterprise " crew , the embryonic lifeforms were eventually freed . ( ) In 2374 , discovered a communications relay network which was 100 , 000 years old and was being used by the Hirogen in the Delta Quadrant . Analysis indicated that each of the relay stations utilized a harvested microsingularity as a power source . While engaged in battle with a Hirogen vessel , the " Voyager " crew used an antithoron burst to destabilize the containment field around the singularity and increase its gravitational pull . The plan worked , but the containment field failed , destroying the relay station and causing the singularity to grow into a black hole . While " Voyager " was able to escape , the Hirogen ship was destroyed . ( ) Black holes can be artificially created through the ignition of a small amount of red matter . In 2387 , Ambassador Spock created such a black hole , in order to absorb the energy of a supernova which threatened the entire galaxy . Spock ' s plan succeeded , but he was too late to save Romulus , which was destroyed by the exploding star . The resulting black hole created a tunnel through spacetime , into which both Spock ' s ship , the " " and the Romulan mining vessel " Narada " were pulled , depositing the " Narada " in the year 2233 , resulting in the creation of the alternate reality . Spock , who entered the black hole a few seconds after the " Narada " , emerged twenty - five years later due to the time differential , and was captured by Nero , the " Narada " s captain . Nero , who held the Federation responsible for the destruction of his homeworld , stole the red matter from Spock ' s ship and used it to create a black hole at the center of , destroying the planet . Nero attempted to perform the same action on Earth as he did to Vulcan , but was stopped when piloted the ship containing the red matter to a collision with the " Narada " . This caused the red matter to ignite and create a black hole within the " Narada " itself , destroying the ship . ( ) Appendices . Background information . This type of anomaly was referred to in the scripted description of a scene from wherein General ' s Bird - of - Prey is located by the using a photon torpedo , disrupting the Klingon Bird - of - Prey ' s cloaking device and making the ship visible . The film ' s script lightheartedly referred to the point at which the craft became trapped as " the ' black hole ' " .