There’s something puzzling about black holes, if you stop to consider it. On the one hand, they’re objects so massive and dense — compacted into such a small region of space — that nothing can escape from it, not even light. That’s the definition of a black hole, and why “black” is in the name.
Image credit: James Provost, sciencenews.org.
But gravity also moves at the speed of light, and yet the gravitational influence of a black hole has absolutely no problem extending not only beyond the event horizon, but infinite distances out into the abyss of space.
Image credit: Henze, NASA.
What’s the resolution to this puzzle? Jillian Scudder has the answer on Astroquizzical today!
from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1egKg6T
There’s something puzzling about black holes, if you stop to consider it. On the one hand, they’re objects so massive and dense — compacted into such a small region of space — that nothing can escape from it, not even light. That’s the definition of a black hole, and why “black” is in the name.
Image credit: James Provost, sciencenews.org.
But gravity also moves at the speed of light, and yet the gravitational influence of a black hole has absolutely no problem extending not only beyond the event horizon, but infinite distances out into the abyss of space.
Image credit: Henze, NASA.
What’s the resolution to this puzzle? Jillian Scudder has the answer on Astroquizzical today!
from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1egKg6T
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