That's a big hole.

[stokesmessiah]

In amongst all the daily Brexit shenanigans, the truly remarkable story of the picture of the black hole.

53 million light years away. Over 2 years worth of data across 8 telescopes that was so huge they couldn't transfer it over the internet and had to do it physically.

It is truly a stunning feat and shows how amazing mankind can be when we work together.

Such a shame that Mr Hawkings couldn't hang on another year to see it.

[Fife-Hibee]

In amongst all the daily Brexit shenanigans, the truly remarkable story of the picture of the black hole.

53 million light years away. Over 2 years worth of data across 8 telescopes that was so huge they couldn't transfer it over the internet and had to do it physically.

It is truly a stunning feat and shows how amazing mankind can be when we work together.

Such a shame that Mr Hawkings couldn't hang on another year to see it.

I'm pretty sure they didn't physically transfer data from 53 million light years away. :wink:

Still an incredible feet of technology to generate such an image though. :agree:

https://www.sciencenews.org/sites/default/files/2019/04/main/articles/041019_LG-EV-MT_EHT_feat.jpg

38 billion kilometres in diameter. :dizzy:

[greenlex]

3 million times the size of Earth. That’s a big hole.

[Fife-Hibee]

3 million times the size of Earth. That’s a big hole.

What's even more mind boggling is it's mass. You'd have to compress the mass of the earth down to the size of a golf ball to form a black hole. So the mass of a black hole this size must be absolutely staggering.

[Sir David Gray]

It's 500 million trillion km away, that's 53 million light years!

So even if we could travel at the speed of light (186,000 miles per second) it would still take 53 million years to reach it!

The figures are just so staggering it's beyond most people's comprehension.

[James310]

Because it's so far away could it have dissappeared millions of years ago but we are just seeing it now? Does that even make sense?

[stokesmessiah]

What's even more mind boggling is it's mass. You'd have to compress the mass of the earth down to the size of a golf ball to form a black hole. So the mass of a black hole this size must be absolutely staggering.

Equivalent to 6.5 billion of our sun, which in turn is 1.5million times the mass of earth.

[stokesmessiah]

Because it's so far away could it have dissappeared millions of years ago but we are just seeing it now? Does that even make sense?

It makes perfect sense and yes it could. We are seeing what it looked like a long time ago!

[Billy Whizz]

I find this whole universe fascinating, but I don’t understand it

[Fife-Hibee]

Because it's so far away could it have dissappeared millions of years ago but we are just seeing it now? Does that even make sense?

Indeed. The universe is like a time machine. The further we look out, the further back in time we're seeing those objects.

[Sir David Gray]

Because it's so far away could it have dissappeared millions of years ago but we are just seeing it now? Does that even make sense?

Yep from my limited understanding of it all it makes perfect sense. The light we are seeing from it is from 53 million years ago so it's quite possible that it may now have disappeared.

[Smartie]

Is Father Ted going to have to update his small / far away theorem into a more appropriate long ago / far away one?

I'm a bit lost if the truth be told, but I'm pretty sure I don't like black holes.

[Fife-Hibee]

Is Father Ted going to have to update his small / far away theorem into a more appropriate long ago / far away one?

I'm a bit lost if the truth be told, but I'm pretty sure I don't like black holes.

This event is happening right now, the ones up there happened long ago. :wink:

[danhibees1875]

Indeed. The universe is like a time machine. The further we look out, the further back in time we're seeing those objects.

:agree: rumour has it that behind the black hole is hearts' league cup win.

As already mentioned, the universe is as fascinating as it is incomprehensible.

[HappyAsHellas]

I liked the bit in The Hitch Hikers Guide to The Galaxy where as a punishment you were put into a room where you could actually comprehend the sheer scale of the universe and your brain turns to jelly.

[One Day Soon]

3 million times the size of Earth. That’s a big hole.

Now that these scientists have finally got their hole the way they so badly wanted do they spend the next few years lying around smoking cigarettes and staring blankly at their ceilings?

[NAE NOOKIE]

The universe is endlessly fascinating, love this stuff :agree:

[Bangkok Hibby]

I find this whole universe fascinating, but I don’t understand it

Try Quantum physics. Now there's something you just have to accept. Trying to understand it makes your brain boil :greengrin

[Fife-Hibee]

Try Quantum physics. Now there's something you just have to accept. Trying to understand it makes your brain boil :greengrin

Still trying to get my head around how electrons know whether they're being observed or not and change from waves to solid matter accordingly. :confused:

[MrRobot]

Still trying to get my head around how electrons know whether they're being observed or not and change from waves to solid matter accordingly. :confused:

Simulation Theory explains it :wink:

[Colr]

Woman that came up with the method of capturing the image getting trolled on internet tragically.

[AgentDaleCooper]

Still trying to get my head around how electrons know whether they're being observed or not and change from waves to solid matter accordingly. :confused:

i think it's because to observe them you have to bounce a photon off them (i.e. so that there is a physical data carrier to see/detect/be observed), which changes their behaviour? might be utterly wrong though :aok:

[Hibs98]

Yep from my limited understanding of it all it makes perfect sense. The light we are seeing from it is from 53 million years ago so it's quite possible that it may now have disappeared.
It won’t have disappeared, black holes were once considered to be infinite, but that turns out not to be the case. Eventually they will come to an end, but not for trillions of years, so the black hole we are seeing may have changed in appearance, but it certainly won’t have disappeared.

you are completely right though about the light we are seeing from everything else in the universe. If the sun was to disappear it would take 12 minutes before we would know about it as that’s how long it takes the light from the sun to reach us. The nearest galaxy from the Milky Way is the andromeda galaxy and although that is visible with the naked eye the light we see is already two million years old.

[Fife-Hibee]

i think it's because to observe them you have to bounce a photon off them (i.e. so that there is a physical data carrier to see/detect/be observed), which changes their behaviour? might be utterly wrong though :aok:

Does the mere act of observation cause photons to bounce off them? If that's the case, then why do photons correspond to electrons differently when there is an observer involved?

Not just a living observer either. Any tool that can be used to observe.

[Bangkok Hibby]

It won’t have disappeared, black holes were once considered to be infinite, but that turns out not to be the case. Eventually they will come to an end, but not for trillions of years, so the black hole we are seeing may have changed in appearance, but it certainly won’t have disappeared.

you are completely right though about the light we are seeing from everything else in the universe. If the sun was to disappear it would take 12 minutes before we would know about it as that’s how long it takes the light from the sun to reach us. The nearest galaxy from the Milky Way is the andromeda galaxy and although that is visible with the naked eye the light we see is already two million years old.

8 minutes 🌕🌝

[Sir David Gray]

It won’t have disappeared, black holes were once considered to be infinite, but that turns out not to be the case. Eventually they will come to an end, but not for trillions of years, so the black hole we are seeing may have changed in appearance, but it certainly won’t have disappeared.

you are completely right though about the light we are seeing from everything else in the universe. If the sun was to disappear it would take 12 minutes before we would know about it as that’s how long it takes the light from the sun to reach us. The nearest galaxy from the Milky Way is the andromeda galaxy and although that is visible with the naked eye the light we see is already two million years old.


8 minutes 🌕🌝

8 minutes 20 seconds actually. 🤓

[Bangkok Hibby]

8 minutes 20 seconds actually. 🤓

Haha I didnt want to be too pedantic. However as we are in an eliptical orbit around the sun with a difference of ROUGHLY 3 million miles from nearest to furthest, we can say the average time light takes is 8 minutes 20 seconds. Obviously some times a little longer, sometimes a little shorter 😋

[Hibs98]

8 minutes 🌕🌝
I’ve always been a bit slow 😂

[WeeRussell]

Ah - one of those things that is that big/far/mental for me to comprehend that I almost feel I could pass-out if I thought about it long enough.

Phenomenal stuff.