The stars that existed before our sun (also a star) were several hundred or a thousand times bigger. But they didn’t last as long. Before a star dies, it experiences a final conflagration known as a supernova, and then it collapses in on itself, taking all those atomic particles with it. That forms the black hole, with a gravity so strong that it cannot even emit light.
Can I compare this phenomenon to a person with overweening pride and love of self? He oversteps his bounds and makes a fatal mistake. The end result is he gets a lot of pity and people avoid him.
But to get back to the black hole. It becomes what holds a galaxy together, and is one of the marvels of our universe. These things took billions of years to happen, and when people say you are stardust, they’re right. Those atoms, formed in a sun, became part of our solar system, and were infused into you as early as when you were in your mother’s womb.
Civilization 