3) SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLES Just a few years ago, many scientists doubted black holes existed at all~until the Hubble Space Telescope turned farout science fiction into fact. Not only do black holes the size of our solar system exist, but theyre all over the place, dotting just about every galaxy the Hubble has peeked into. Our personal apocalyptic black hole lurks in the heart of the Milky Way. Its three billion~billion times larger than our own sun, devouring space gas and random stars like a massive Pac~Man. Its the kind of thing that could destroy our whole solar system. How? Its massive gravitational influence starts to tug against the orbits of planets and their moons. Planetary wobbling ensues. Too much careening, and we get slingshot out of orbit. There go the nice temperatures. And distinct seasons. And, um, important things like the atmosphere. Get too far away from the sun, and were Mars, frozen and uninhabitable. And should one get near enough to actually slurp earth into its vortex? Then the gravity is so intense we just squish. Every atom gets crushed out of existence. Presently, were so far away from our black hole that is not much of a worry. But at least one physicist thinks the Milky Way will eventually collide with our neighboring galaxy, Andromeda. And when we do, the impact will surely send the whole solar system reeling, giving us a 50/50 chance at bumping into our black hole. Then we flat line. Of course, thats a good three billion years away.
Posted on: Wed, 26 Mar 2014 00:56:11 +0000
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