Swallowed by a Black Hole

[knocker]

If anyone missed the Horizon programme this week and is interested in the subject it's worth a shufty.

 

This summer, the black hole at the centre of the Milky Way is getting ready to feast.

 

A gas cloud three times the size of our planet has strayed within the gravitational reach of our nearest supermassive black hole. And across the globe, telescopes are being trained on the heart of our Milky Way galaxy, some 27,000 light years from Earth, in the expectation of observing this unique cosmic spectacle.

 

For cosmic detectives across the Earth, it is a unique opportunity. For the first time in the history of science, they hope to observe in action the awesome spectacle of a feeding supermassive black hole.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b036bv0z/Horizon_20122013_Swallowed_by_a_Black_Hole/

 

[Crepuscular Ray]

Yes, it's worth a watch, even if the anthropomorphising of the black hole is irritating. It's not sentient, and is certainly not waiting/getting ready for anything, and it's certainly not sitting down to eat as the voice-over claims at one point.

[A.J]

Yes, it's worth a watch, even if the anthropomorphising of the black hole is irritating. It's not sentient, and is certainly not waiting/getting ready for anything, and it's certainly not sitting down to eat as the voice-over claims at one point.

It's big, it's black and it's hungry, so it my book it can do whatever it want's,

[Crepuscular Ray]

It's big, it's black and it's hungry, so it my book it can do whatever it want's,

Yup, but it's not sitting up to dinner holding a knife and fork, anticipating anything turning up on its plate! My gripe was that the voice-over was attributing the qualities of being able to see into the immediate future of a sentient being - human, dolphin, lion, earwig, etc., to something that just is what it is and has no consciousness and, thus, no concept of the future. The day when black holes develop advanced brains is the day we're all doomed!

[Methuselah]

Yes, it's worth a watch, even if the anthropomorphising of the black hole is irritating. It's not sentient, and is certainly not waiting/getting ready for anything, and it's certainly not sitting down to eat as the voice-over claims at one point.

Indeed CR...There's nowt more vomit-inducing than anthropomorphism!!

[Gray-Wolf]

Indeed CR...There's nowt more vomit-inducing than anthropomorphism!!

 

especially when applied to certain folk and their behaviours........