Tag Archives: Black Holes

Black Holes Don’t Suck!

As a mega fan of sci-fi movies and astronomy I am always confronted with the bitter taste of space ignorance. One of the most common misconceptions–not only in sci-fi movies but also in our pop culture–is about black holes. Ever heard of the phrase “getting sucked into a black hole?” Newton’s law of gravitation tells us that masses in gravitational fields orbit each other in ellipses, parabolas and hyperbolas. Notice how “sucking” isn’t on this list.

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For us to have a better understanding of the universe we live in, we must get rid of misconceptions in science and replace them with facts. So if a black hole doesn’t “suck” then what does really happen at a black hole?

Before we can take this journey through space together, some elements need to be defined for the less nerdy astronomy readers.

Black holes are the remaining cores of massive stars. So, basically a lot of mass squeezed into a tiny space, which results in a strong gravitational pull. This strong gravitational pull arises from the curvature of space. Imagine if the universe was a giant rubber sheet with objects of different masses spread throughout it. Heavier objects would curve the rubber sheet more than lighter objects. A black hole on this sheet would be like a bottomless pit—a hole in the observable universe.

On the left, an optical image from the Digitized Sky Survey shows Cygnus X-1, outlined in a red box. Cygnus X-1 is located near large active regions of star formation in the Milky Way, as seen in this image that spans some 700 light years across. An artist's illustration on the right depicts what astronomers think is happening within the Cygnus X-1 system. Cygnus X-1 is a so-called stellar-mass black hole, a class of black holes that comes from the collapse of a massive star. New studies with data from Chandra and several other telescopes have determined the black hole's spin, mass, and distance with unprecedented accuracy. Credits: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss Source: http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/k-4/stories/nasa-knows/what-is-a-black-hole-k4.html

An artist’s drawing of the black hole Cygnus X-1, pulling in matter from a nearby blue star. Credits: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss Source: http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/k-4/stories/nasa-knows/what-is-a-black-hole-k4.html

 

An illustration of the “rubber sheet” 2-D simplification of gravity’s effect on space-time, with a 1-D profile of the shape of the curve along any one direction. Image Credit: BenRG, public domain Source: https://medium.com/starts-with-a-bang/astroquizzical-how-does-gravity-escape-from-a-black-hole-5ef156bf048d#.v1pxirpaz

An illustration of the “rubber sheet” 2-D simplification of gravity’s effect on space-time, with a 1-D profile of the shape of the curve along any one direction.
Image Credit: BenRG, public domain
Source: https://medium.com/starts-with-a-bang/astroquizzical-how-does-gravity-escape-from-a-black-hole-5ef156bf048d#.v1pxirpaz

So passing by a black hole we wouldn’t get sucked in, unless we were unfortunate enough to get pulled into its gravitational field. If we did managed to get pulled in, we would disappear from the observable universe. This is because the gravitational pull is so strong that not even light can escape a black hole. Thus being given the name “black” hole.

To our friends outside the black hole it may seem that we did in fact get sucked in because we vanished from sight. But we know this isn’t true, and sadly we can never leave the black hole to tell our friends. So as we frantically wave our arms and call out to our friends for help, they head back home and tell everyone that black holes do in fact suck. 🙁

Until our next journey, live long and prosper.

By: Flora Iranmanesh

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Black Holes Don’t Suck!

As a mega fan of sci-fi movies and astronomy I am always confronted with the bitter taste of space ignorance. One of the most common misconceptions–not only in sci-fi movies but also in our pop culture–is about black holes. Ever heard of the phrase “getting sucked into a black hole?”

Newton’s law of gravitation tells us that masses in gravitational fields orbit each other in ellipses, parabolas and hyperbolas. Notice how “sucking” isn’t on this list. So then what would really happen if you were to approach a black hole?

Before we can take this journey through space together, some elements need to be defined for the less nerdy astronomy readers.

Black holes are the remaining cores of massive stars. So, basically a lot of mass squeezed into a tiny space, which results in a strong gravitational pull. The escape velocity is the speed required to leave the orbit of an object. This depends on both the mass and the size of the object. The smaller the size of an object, the stronger the gravitational pull, and as a result a higher escape velocity would be required to leave the orbit.

On the left, an optical image from the Digitized Sky Survey shows Cygnus X-1, outlined in a red box. Cygnus X-1 is located near large active regions of star formation in the Milky Way, as seen in this image that spans some 700 light years across. An artist's illustration on the right depicts what astronomers think is happening within the Cygnus X-1 system. Cygnus X-1 is a so-called stellar-mass black hole, a class of black holes that comes from the collapse of a massive star. New studies with data from Chandra and several other telescopes have determined the black hole's spin, mass, and distance with unprecedented accuracy.

An artist’s drawing of the black hole Cygnus X-1, pulling in matter from a nearby blue star. (Credits: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss)

So passing by a black hole you wouldn’t get sucked in, unless you were unfortunate enough to get pulled into its gravitational field. The escape velocity would be too high for you to ever be able to escape. In fact the gravitational pull is so strong that not even light can escape a black hole. Thus being given the name “black” hole.

It’s also interesting to note that people outside the black hole would never see you spiraling into the black hole. They would just see you suspended in space, stuck in time. To them, time would stop for you because of the significant increase in the force of gravity. So theoretically if you didn’t vanish from sight, you would never age to the people outside the black hole.

Now that we’ve taken this journey to the great unknown together, we can conclude that black holes don’t go around sucking up moons and stars like some cosmic vacuum.

Until our next journey, live long and prosper.

By: Flora Iranmanesh

Sources:

Bennet; Donahue; Schneider; Voit. The Cosmic Perspective: Stars & Galaxies; Pearson Learning Solutions, Boston, 2015; pp 211-212.

Weiss, M. Cygnus X-1. http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/k-4/stories/nasa-knows/what-is-a-black-hole-k4.html (accessed Sept 26, 2016). Credits: NASA/CXC/M. Weiss