Saturday, June 03, 2006
Now that's a Black Hole!
SS 433,Image Credit NASA/CXC/M.Weiss.Via Voyage to Arcturus, comes news of an award-winning site on Black Holes. It is a fantastic resource for all those who want to know about black holes. With great animations and step through demonstrations, it is great for the younger learners. My kids and I worked through sections of it this morning, and had great fun dropping a clock into a black hole. However, having emphasised that things that fall into a black hole can't come out, when we watched Galaxy Quest tonight, MidddleOne turned to me with an accusing look when the ship passed through a black hole.
# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 9:48 pm 
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Arrghh. I've just watched one of the new (series 2) episodes of Doctor Who which has some dodgy black hole physics too!
Not everything has to be dragged into a black hole. If you are far enough away you are fine and you can be in a stable orbit (or unbound for that matter). After all, the Earth hasn't been pulled into the Sun during the past 5 billion years and the Solar System hasn't disappeared into the likely supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way.
Not everything has to be dragged into a black hole. If you are far enough away you are fine and you can be in a stable orbit (or unbound for that matter). After all, the Earth hasn't been pulled into the Sun during the past 5 billion years and the Solar System hasn't disappeared into the likely supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way.
# posted by 
: 4:59 am
: 4:59 am
Galaxy Quest is great fun (we had to watch it as an antidote to the excrable "funky monkey" which the kids wanted to watch). "Never give in, never surrender" is the motto of our lab. The news that DW2 has dodgy physics, while dissapointing, doesn't actually surprise me.
I could have phrase things better, I was trying to get across that when things actually do fall into a black hole, they stay in (not that everything will fall in). The Black Hole site actually has a great demonstration of table orbits and untable orbits around black holes, where you can get to place a spacecraft in different orbits. I love that site.
I could have phrase things better, I was trying to get across that when things actually do fall into a black hole, they stay in (not that everything will fall in). The Black Hole site actually has a great demonstration of table orbits and untable orbits around black holes, where you can get to place a spacecraft in different orbits. I love that site.
Ian, your phrasing was fine. My comments were directed at the Doctor Who episode.
I had a play with the orbit widget and dropped the clock into the black hole.
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I had a play with the orbit widget and dropped the clock into the black hole.
# posted by : 4:19 pm
: 4:19 pm << Home
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