any black holes closer than this? (1 Viewer)

[conception_native_0123]

this one is 1,550 light years away. not too bad! and apparently it is scaring astronomers:

 

[The_Doc_Man]

The difficulty of finding these beasties makes it hard to answer your question, Adam. The article itself suggested that at the moment, no closer black hole is known to exist.

 

[kevlray]

1550 light years is plenty close enough for me for a black hole.

 

[conception_native_0123]

The article itself suggested that at the moment, no closer black hole is known to exist.

yes richard, until the next closest one is found. no idea if there is a closer one or not.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

The black hole Sagittarius A* is in the center of our galaxy. We originally detected it inferentially because of the way it deflects certain stars near it. Basically, we didn't first see it but we DID see the stars that orbited it. With orbits, whether you can see or or not, if there is an orbit then there is something to BE orbited. That's how we knew where it was.

For closer black holes, a similar principle will have to apply. If we see something that deflects objects even though we can't see it, there has to be something supermassive at that point.

 

[conception_native_0123]

The black hole Sagittarius A* is in the center of our galaxy. We originally detected it inferentially because of the way it deflects certain stars near it.

there is one star that orbits quite fast. is speeds up to unknown speed when it gets close then slows down during the outer orbit period. I've seen astronomers' models of that stuff near Sagit A*. Let us not forget too, that solar mass holes are not as dangerous as supermassive holes. In terms of sucking the Earth into it at some point, that is! ha.

 

[conception_native_0123]

take a look at this scare too....

 

[The_Doc_Man]

If that is the Andromeda crash then (a) I'll be dead long before that and (b) humanity will have drastically evolved by then.

 

[conception_native_0123]

I'll be dead long before that

yeah, in that black nothingness you seem to love so much. =(

 

[The_Doc_Man]

Non-existence doesn't frighten me because of what (doesn't) go with it - consciousness. I won't exist, but then again, our old Biblical friend Ecclesiastes tells us there is no sensation, no awareness when in the grave. That was good enough for the Old Testament, it's good enough for me.