Joe Malan: Focusing on black holes
May 7—I've written about black holes many times before, but there's just so many interesting facets to them that they merit constant conversation.
There are two things that I would like to focus on in this column.
One, black holes are probably everywhere, and we don't know exactly where they are; and two, some reassurances about the black hole at the center of our galaxy.
Sure, we could talk about how if you fell into a black hole, your body would "spaghettify," but that's a good topic for another time.
To preface this conversation, let's again go over what we know black holes are, and those are, essentially, gravity wells in space. The gravitational pull of a black hole is so strong, not even light can escape. Some black holes may be formed from the cores of collapsed supermassive stars. Others, like those at the center of galaxies (pretty much every one), we're still trying to understand.
That brings us to the first topic: black holes are probably everywhere.
Just recently, scientists are believed to have discovered the closest known black hole to Earth, according to an article in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.* It lies just 1,500 light years away in the constellation of Monoceros. It's only about 3 solar masses, so pretty small, yet significant enough to exude a gravitational pull on a nearby companion star.
One thousand, five hundred light years is very close to Earth, relatively speaking. Remember, the Milky Way is about 100,000 light years across. So, the distance to that black hole is a very tiny fraction of that distance.
If we follow that this black hole is only a short distance away, and that the cosmos are billions of years old, it seems to make sense that there would be many more of these things lurking around somewhere, perhaps even closer to us than this one.
It is probably low on the echelon of "What could happen to Earth?" concerns, but it is one that we should probably eventually think about.
Now, on the second topic, the supermassive black hole in the center of the Milky Way, that one we don't have to be concerned with.
Why? Simply because it's so far away.
Despite the fact that it's about 40 billion solar masses (as opposed to the recently discovered one that's only 3 solar masses), we're just so far away from the center of the galaxy (about 27,000 light years) that it's just not going to affect us.
We ought to be more concerned with our immediate stellar neighborhood first.
Black holes are nothing to fear, yet they merit consistent study.
* — Published May 1 (lead author Tharindu Jayasinghe).
Joe Malan is presentation editor and astronomy writer for the Enid News & Eagle. Email him at jmalan@enidnews.com.
Joe Malan is astronomy writer and presentation editor for the Enid News & Eagle. Email him at jmalan@enidnews.com.
Have a question about this story? Do you see something we missed? Do you have a story idea for Joe? Send an email to jmalan@enidnews.com.
