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Call for questions: BLACK HOLES! (Patreon)

Published:
2024-02-12 23:28:25
Imported:
2026-06

Content

A space topic for you! We're having a wonderful astronomy guest on to chat about his research with black holes! Feel free to leave questions below. 

I'm chatting with him Tuesday (tomorrow) morning, so be speedy if you can!

Whoo!

-AW Dadward

Comments

Esohn

Can you explain the information paradox? Is information truly lost when it enters the event horizon?

Iso Partee

FTQA: how large are black holes? I recently heard they can we really small and pass through us all the time!?

Max Newman

I know time is super weird and warpy around black holes. So my question is… can you do the time warp from the rocky horror picture show? (And also can you explain how and why time warps around black holes?)

Iso Partee

FYQA: is a black hole a time portal?

Simone Francoeur

What's on the other side of a black hole? Does it have another side? Where do they go?

louva-bug

Do black holes ever “die” or do they just continue to get larger and larger as they accumulate more mass?

Rayna

Ive heard there is some theory related to black holes and parallel universes. If I survived a black hole, would there be another universe on the other side?

Sarah Railey King

This might be a silly question, but… Where do they go? Like, where does the stuff in black holes go? I wasn’t sure how to ask that, but I’m super curious!

Mark Young

What are white holes and how do they related to black holes?

Jonah Leahy

Can you explain white holes and how they differ from black holes?

Roxanna McLaughlin

Is there a theory about antimatter or dark matter turning regular matter into anti or dark matter when they contact each other? Thank you!

Alan Gross

What's the closest known black hole? How do you think supermassive black holes got so big?

Charlotte Parkinson

Spaghettification? What's up with that? I love the term so much. Black holes give me the space anxiety but don't worry, I will still be listening

Lizzie R

Why are black holes so hard to see/percieve on their own? Like, why can we only see how they affect the light of stars/galaxies behind them?

Emma is Rosey

Is the internet tale of being “spaghetti’d” by black holes real?

Stephanie Broertjes

what kind of pasta/spaghetti does something turn into when a black hole noms on it?

Annmarie Everhart

Any potential truth to the theory that the Tunguska Event was actually a small black hole passing through the Earth? Also, I think I've heard that dark matter may be related to the decay of black holes? Any truth there?

Lizzy Martinez

So many fictional books and movies have attempted to explain black holes. Which one is the closest to getting it right per today's research? Also my best friend's baby would always kick whenever we said "black holes" to her (started with reading a baby book on space) so shout out to all passionate about black holes like baby Sophia!!!

Abraham Livingston

Is a theoretical planet near the event horizon of a black hole going to be experiencing time at a high rate as shown in Interstellar?

L. Wink

Is there an end to studying black holes? What is the “final frontier” of their research?

Thedorknextdoor

Speaking as a person with ALL the anxiety…is there any reason why concepts like black holes cause folks to feel existential dread? I love the idea of space, but I’m equally terrified by it! 🌌

David the Altruistic Misanthrope

If 4 space ships approached a black hole from 4 sides and they went in together.... What would happen? Would they meet? Would they have the same experience?

Jax & Colorado

Is a black hole held open by gravity or kept from getting bigger by gravity?

Sarah Railey King

So happy I wasn’t the only one wondering this!

Chrysalis Ashton

FTQA: From my kids- 1. How many black holes are there? 2. Why are they holes? And from me: What is the best hypothesis about what’s “on the other side” of black holes? Is there even an “other side”? 😅

Noel Dietz

Are black holes tesseracts?

Iso Partee

FTQA: what happens inside a black hole?

Amanda Lask

If black holes are created when certain stars collapse, are there just millions of black holes in our universe that we have no idea about?

JENN 'Benthopelagic squirrel' ALVAREZ

To quote you: "What if you had to pee and unknowingly peed into the center of a vortex?" I had this saved in my notes since 2021😂

Heidi & Qtip!

Since matter cannot escape the gravitational pull of a BH once it's passed the event horizon, what happens to it once it's inside? Does it just squish down into some unknown substance with a limitless volume in the center? At some point does it flip into a white hole & explode out, creating a new universe or big bang???

madelyn m

If I got sucked into a black hole, would I look like a spaghetti noodle first like how they make it seem in pop culture?

Vedant Patel

Is it true that black holes don't destroy the information of what is consumed, if so what's the logic behind that, like can you measure the hawking radiation and tell what it was?

Rachel A

What are our chances of being swallowed up by a black hole? Is there one creeping on us?

RJ Doidge

Why so synonymous with time travel?!

Josh Waldman

FTQA: What’s up with the idea that the Large Hadron Collider could create a black hole? Is this a real concern or just a weird conspiracy theory?

Caro Young

FTQA: what is the relationship between time and black holes and how does it change in relation to distance from the black hole?

mariia k

are there holes that are big enough to pull in whole planets?

Kim Hamlin

From my husband, Blake: What is the likelihood that the theorized Planet 9 is a small black hole?

Chris Allen

Can we create black holes? ... and will they swallow us all into the void??

Jordan Sabolish

How much do you know about white holes? What would they look like if we saw one?

Jordan Irons

If you could throw anyone into a black hole who would it be?

Corey

*How* do they exist?!

Adam Foote

First, black holes are almost always described with phrasing like, "nothing, not even light, can escape it's gravity." Why exactly should I be impressed by that? I get that light is fast but I guess that phrase never made sense to me. Speaking of, what happens if you accelerate a black hole to close to the speed of light? Would you get weird ripples of time dilation and gravitational waves behind it? Would that be detectable?

Alex W

SO COOL. Ok so I never know what to ask when it comes to Patreon questions, but this one I knew immediately. I have a kiddo who shares my anxious heart, and when he was 8 he hyperfocused on black holes and their probability of swallowing the Earth (and us) whole— to the point of giving himself panic attacks. To be clear, even though he’s older now, HE won’t be listening to this episode any time soon. But with the anxious tender hearts out there in mind: What is the most comforting thing you might be able to offer about our place in the universe as it relates to being gobbled by a supermega black hole?

mariia k

plus might the earth be theoretically pulled in there?

Katherine

Will I stay alive while being spgahetti'd or not?

Caro Young

What is the closest black hole and could we fall into it?

Leanna Shuster

Are black holes truly black in color or is the name just figurative based on how they interact with matter?

mariia k

what actually goes on when something is in there

Sarah Hendel

My six year old wants to know: why do black holes get destroyed (die?) so slowly? I would like to know: could there be black holes so tiny that they are measured at the molecular level?

Rick T

Is gravity really NOT a force?

Emily Staw-fur

Can you explain more about that picture of a black hole that was released in 2022? What went into getting that picture? Why was it such a a big deal?

mariia k

are there a lot of scientists that specifically study black holes?

Jenna Catalano

How are the supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies formed?

E

How wide can they be?

Brianna

Do you think it’s possible for black holes to connect to other universes? (First time I’ve asked a question here ☺️)

Trish Hansen

Yay! Thanks Alie - Trish here from the far south of the south in Adelaide, South Australia on spectacular Kaurna (pronounced 'Garna') Country. I have a biomimicry question: How might all that we know about neurons, provide insights into 'black holes' ?

E

Ftqa also

Connor Chapman

What other colors of holes are there?

Evan Davis

Would it be possible for us to find a way to send a satellite into a black hole and see what happens?

Valary Joly

FTQA! Ok, Star stuff gets sucked into black holes but stuff gets ejected too, right? What is that stuff and what is happening?

beccaand

What's our primary source of information about things that happen beyond the event horizon (e.g. spaghettification)? As they best guess inferences based on the different properties we know about black holes?

Lee Wang

FTQA: Would getting spaghettified hurt?

Clayton Cromley

Why are they called "gravitational" waves? Wouldn't "gravity waves" sound just as cool?

Tim McCollow

Pla explain the black hole theory that no information can be lost crossing the event horizon therefore all info is captured there. And it relates to simulation theory???

Bee

Why are they so terrifying?

Emily Totero

What happens to matter once in a black hole? Is a black hole a type of matter itself? Are they even measurable?

Penny Loader

What did you think of the Doctor Who episode with the tiny prison planet orbiting a black hole - is that something humans could theoretically engineer?

Steven Hansen

We know our universe is expanding. Is it possible that our universe is inside a black hole and the expansion is what is being sucked up?

Sophia Runte

How do black holes relate to or explain time relativity?

erica smith

Hi hi! Is there any way to know how old a black hole is? What’s the earliest mention or knowledge of them? Secondarily and mildly cheekily…do you have a favorite and least favorite song about black holes?

Guido

Is information destroyed or preserved by a black hole? What even IS "information" in this context?

Frances Hurst Brubaker

What is the surface of the black hole or the event horizon? Also if black holes grow by taking in what is around them can they eventually expand over everything?

Michael Munene

What is the deal with the hologram theory when it comes to black holes, and how would we even know that we were just ghost living out the reality of a bygone universe?

Amanda Regan

Ok. But how do they even know everything they know about them? Is it all math? Educated guesses? Has anyone ever visited a black hole?!

Siri Gossman

Are white holes still something people talk about? How many theories are there on what happens to stuff that goes into black holes?

Frances Hurst Brubaker

What happens if two black holes collide? Like are there strength competitions and whichever black hole is stronger, consumes the other? Or do they both crash into each other like in a celestial meet cute type of way?

Michael Munene

So, what in the world are ultra-massive black holes, and are there any monsters out there bigger than TON-618?

Tire Fire

Are black holes responsible for quantum entanglement? How small can a black hole be?

Drtymgrty

I am interested to know about primordial black holes and the possibility that one of them was the cause of the Tunguska Event. Is this really a possibility?

Storm

what the fuck are you and why are they here?!!

ScienceInTheArt

Is there any research that offers a hope of humans creating a black hole under controlled conditions? If so, what might we try, aside from just throwing things in to see what happens?

Val Lucas

If you were right at the edge of the event horizon, would time (for you) be speeding up or slowing down?

Storm

are they actually black in colour or have we been lied to?

Marie-Michelle

FTQA: Do space scientists, when lying in bed at night and contemplating space and vastness, also experience that ~ ~ intense psychological vertigo ~ ~ ? Is this feeling a universal human experience, or is it just me?

Bennett Vanderbosch

What would it take to be able to explore one and return?

Sydonie S.

What does a black hole sound like?

Storm

if i went into a black hole, would i die?

Storm

where’s the closest one to us and should we be worried about it? (please say no)

Matt Ceccato

Did the 1979 movie by Disney get **anything** right about black holes?

SuchaHotMetz

Do black holes ever stop being holes? Depending on the size?

Paul Hoffman

What is the chance that, 25 years from now, we'll say "we were wrong, those things we observed that we said were black holes in fact are this other new thing we've just described"?

Keri Overall

How have Laura Mersini-Houghton's and Harald Peiffer's mathematical calculations showing that black holes do not exist changed the way black holes are studied?

John Salaun

As I understand, a black hole could be sucking everything in to a single points and then explode everything back out into the universe, but time slows down so much that from outside the black hole it just looks frozen in time. Is there any evidence of this happening? Is this what the Big Bang was?

Leanna Shuster

From my 13 year old astronomy buff: Why do black holes emit a greater amount of Hawking radiation as their surface area decreases? From my 15 year old: Do all black holes spin? If not, why?

Storm

how do black holes form?

Amy Johnson

Theoretically, could a black hole ever lose enough energy via hawking radiation to shrink?

Kimberly Talbert

My biggest phobia is being sucked into a black hole. How close is the nearest black hole to earth (and is there any chance of it sucking us up in the next 80 years)? Could one form close enough to earth to be a problem in my lifetime? I would also appreciate any other facts/statistics to ease my anxious brain.

Marc Chavez

Would we be able to detect a rogue black hole coming towards us?

Rineil Mandre

Is there a point as a black hole dies that it would be more approachable?

Sarah Mabel

From my 10 year old: is it possible to create a black hole? Is it possible to shoot something into one?

Audrey Hudak

Is there a pop culture depiction of a black hole that is good? What pop culture example of a black hole is terrible?

Matt Thompson

Do black holes orbit other celestial bodies and/or other black holes?

Dave Langlinais

Ooo, OOo, talk about TON 618! (for of a question) Pleeease??

Matt Thompson

Do black holes grow or shrink over time?

Quincey Robisheaux

If the gravity of a black hole condenses to one point, and all matter is spaghetti'd into an infinitely small thread toward that point, are black holes (conceptually speaking) a three-dimensional sphere, a two-dimensional circle, or a one-dimensional point?

Audrey Hudak

What is the relationship between black holes and time? Does time change in a black hole? Do we know this?

Britt Carp

How many existential crises have you had while studying black holes? Are there any lesser known space phenomena that are even more anxiety producing?

Jenna Congdon

I've seen the idea in books and movies of punching a hole in space and pinning it open to create a black hole, which can then be "stitched" to other black holes to create time traveling highways. I understand that's 99% sci-fi, but theoretically, if you could connect black holes and find a way to not die when you jumped down it, could they be used as a space highway? Said another way- do black holes all connect somehow? Is it like the various drains in your house all connecting to a sewer? Is there an invisible under-layer to space? Sorry for the long crazy question but I would be so thrilled if they're all just one big giant black hole poking up through space in a bunch of spots.

Audrey Hudak

Is the number of black holes increasing or staying the same?

Mark Payton

Does the shape of black holes vary?

Kay Jacobs

Can you explain the difference between black holes and white holes?

Emily Krieger

Are death and black holes both essentially examples of an event where particles are repurposed in ways unknowable to us ultimately, at least right now?

Sara in Montana

I’ve been hearing about white holes. What’s up with those?

Chandler Witherington

I am a visual learner. Have you seen any graphics/visualizations/representations/video explainers that you think really capture what we *think* happens around black holes? I've seen a lot of the "person falling into black hole stretched super long" but it's not that helpful!

Cindy Teixeira

omg, i am so excited for this one. A scientist I know told me there are black holes inside our atmosphere and there could be a black holes in the same room with us or even many tiny ones. Is that true?

Audrey Hudak

What are your favorite black hole themed jokes?? 🤣

Rachael Lemont

Is it really impossible for anything to escape a black hole? Even light?

George Sakoulas

Black holes are in unreachable sectors of space as far as humans are concerned. Other than serving as mathematical reference points in our time-space equations, is there any knowledge from studying black holes that has influenced the development of our modern technology like space travel etc?

shyla bradford

I want to know about spagettification!! How does it work? what would we look like? How far away from the event horizon would it begin? etc. Black holes are wild!!

Anfauglir

Has the boundary for the event horizon of a black hole ever been observed expanding or contracting? Is it even possible to observe/measure this?

Timmy H.

Is it true that black holes actually operate similarly to a sun in a solar system and actually have planets orbiting them as well?

Chris Curious

Does time really slow down in them and does it reach a point where it effectively stops?

Timmy H.

Is there any merit in the idea that a particle accelerator could actually create a black hole?

Timmy H.

How did we discover black holes?

Chelsea Wilck

If spaghettification happens to matter that gets too close to a black hole, is time spaghettified in black holes? Not sure what that would entail actually, I guess I'm picturing time "slowing"? Do we even know anything about time in black holes?

Jessica Rudd

Is the flux of Hawking radiation constant over time? Does it also depend on the size of the black hole?

Britt Carp

FTQA: I heard a theory on another podcast that the Tunguska Event was the result of a tiny black hole, “smaller than a speck of dust” colliding with earth. Are you familiar with this theory and what are your thoughts?

G Connolly

I want to know all things spaghettification!!

Nicky G

Jumping on the spaghettification train! Toot toot! Also - curious what movies or visual media did black holes dirty? Any that got black holes right?

Travis Weber

What are some alternative explainations for the behavior that we observe around black holes besides infinitely dense mass? Does anyone give credibility to alternative hypotheses? Why does a singularity not imply a breakdown in the model as it does in other places within science?

Nathan Marion

How realistic was the black hole portrayed in the movie interstellar? How accurate is the science in general in that movie - regarding time manipulation and the effects that has on our understanding of physics.

Nathan Marion

Is it true that there is a black hole at the center of our galaxy?

Chelsea Wilck

How close is "too close" to a black hole? Aka what is the closest one could get to a black hole before being affected by its gravitational pull? How do we even know this?

jason rogers

How much longer until we’re able to prove Hawking radiation exists and is emitted from black holes? Also could you please explain time dilation and how we could possibly use this phenomenon to time travel? Thank you!!!

Amanda Colyer

My eleven year old wants to know if black holes are really made out of dark matter. And I am endlessly curious about spaghettification — is that theory only, or has it ever been observed? Eleven year old also wants to know if spaghettification is the real name for it.

Lex Clearwater

what do we know about black holes and measuring mass in the universe/ what is the potential that dark matter is what is inside black holes or creates them or is created by them? Or, could black holes be portals to additional universes such as parallel dimensions?

Chelsea Wilck

The more i think about black holes the more I am realizing HOW do we even know so much about them like what are these elusive things in space? are they even "things"? I feel like they should be beings. (I am very excited for this episode)

Mark Hewlette

Please give us the low-down on worm holes? Is that the idea of a black hole bending space so that we can jump through to a very far off area of space in no time? What is the latest on this?

Chelsea Wilck

ok actual last question, how deep is a black hole? is there even a bottom or is it...infinite?

Mark Hewlette

Is there more dark matter around a black hole? Any relation?

Dylan V

How are black holes so dense? Do the protons and electrons smash back together to make neutrons? Are black holes and neutron stars different/ how do their densities compare?

Juliana

My nephew Reuv (6) asks: Do you think black holes are wormholes?

C dB

Radiolab recently mentioned Primordial Black Holes, one of which could explain the Tungutsa Event (sp) in Russia, so my question is, what sizes can black holes be?

C dB

Is every star, at death, a black hole?

Shannon O'Grady

Why are they so ding dong scary? Are we all going to get sucked into one?

Sir Shakesalot

My son is wondering how they're created.

Raja

Where do black holes go? -asked by a 7 year old I know. His 5 year old brother asks: What food can you throw in a black hole? (My name is pronounced Raya, like papaya)

Mason Hart

First time question asker - what sort of item or message could be sent into a black hole and survive? Also I have an ologist for you pls see my PM Alie, kay thanks love you bye!

Hi_X_Im_dad

Are they really physical singularities where our understanding of physics and physical laws break down, or is it just our math that breaks down?

C dB

For a while, people said BH’s swallow all and emit nothing, but it turns out Stephen Hawking and company found they do emit, something. What is it?

Jessica Rudd

What’s the deal with supermassive black holes in the early universe? Are there any widely accepted hypotheses of how these formed, or do we need more data from instruments like JWST?

Jani Rounds

What did Interstellar get wrong about black holes? Can anything ever escape them?

C dB

What is a quasar? Is it a spinning, spitting thing or on its way to being a black hole?

Amanda Colyer

Follow up from kiddo: in the Big Crunch theory, will all the galaxies eventually combine and creat a massive black hole that will suck the entire universe in?

Amanda Colyer

He’s on a roll: can you destroy a black hole?

Juliana

Y'all, he's been so excited (and occasionally worried) about black holes recently so I was thrilled to see this topic, and I see he's far from the only kid with black hole questions.

Dave Cannon

Can you try to explain why microscopic black holes would be such a bad thing, and how would the LHC have made them? That one always stuck with me.

Jessica Rudd

I heard that when crossing the event horizon into a black hole, the time and position axes ‘flip’. What would this mean for someone falling into a black hole, and what would it mean to an outside observer?

Dave Brewer

What’s the deal with quantum black holes? Could one destroy a planet? Also, could you sing “Black Hole Sun” by Soundgarden?

Anastasia Press

If the event horizon has a defined size, why do we say that its density is infinite?

Amanda Colyer

One more: is it possible that there might be life inside a black hole? And is it possible that we are somehow in a black hole right now? (He’s really enjoying this, thank you so much for this amazing podcast that we listen to together.)

Olivia Coppin

How accurate was the Interstellar movie and will be all die from a black hole sucking us up like a babies thrown Cheerios underneath the couch???

TJ Mckenna

From my very limited knowledge, Is it true that theoretically if you threw say a piano into a black hole you could get a puppy out of it? Like on the “other side” of the singularity. I’m so sorry idk what I’m talking about 🥲

Amanda Colyer

Last one, maybe? Can black holes suck up some kinds of matter faster than others?

Amy Phillips

What is the math behind white holes and do you think they exist? (So excited for this episode!)

Jason Holdren

How does Hawking Radiation work?

Mary of the Grapefruit

Time travel!! Also, how much did you geek out when the picture of the black hole happened But seriously, time travel

Joe

First time question asker, eager to learn about black holes! How does time dilation in a strong gravity field work? How accurate did Interstellar get the science on that?

Pavka34

What is the smallest possible black hole? If there was a black hole the mass of the earth how big would it be?

Pavka34

I second this!

Margot Louis

What was a previous theory about black holes that was most surprising when debunked?

Pavka34

Are black holes necessary to form galaxies?

Jessie Pearce

do black holes have a time warp component? Is it possible for everything everywhere to become a black hole? How can a black hole exist and not suck everything into it?!

Pavka34

What is the relationship between black holes and dark matter? Could there be a connection between black holes and dark energy?

Pavka34

Are wormholes a thing?

Sydney Koenig

How likely is it (statistically) for interstellar to have gotten it right??

The Foodwalker

First time questioner: If all matter consolidates into a black hole, what happens to the weight of all of that matter? How do you determine the weight of a black hole?

Rachel von Morrigan

Any chance we could take note from Twister and toss a Dorothy in there? I wanna know about the other side!

Mimz

Why are they called Quasar's and why aren't they just called really big black holes? How do you know they're real? What would happen if you went through one??

Rachael Swenson

Why is it so hard to photograph black holes? Because of the gravitational field? What is the minimum gravitational density for it to be considered a black hole?

Bassist Ex Machina

Is time travel via black hole actually theoretically possible? (Assuming you could somehow survive the tidal forces?!) Is this just sci-fi fantasy or is there some actual grounding in astrophysics?

Ann Over

How are black holes and dark galaxies linked? Could dark galaxies be the tip of the iceberg for understanding dark matter?

Valerie Bertha

What is the biggest black hole discovered? what is the oldest? Do you have a favorite and if so why?

Nayomi Santos

First time questioner, long time listener: What do we think it sounds like inside a black hole?

Jenna Congdon

From my husband Dan, first time question asker! (Whew, he's excited about black holes!!) If there are black holes where everything condenses to a singularity, is there such thing as a "theoretical white hole" where a singularity expels all matter out? And if this can exist, is this where we would look for wormholes? And if we could discover a wormhole, and we created a spaceship that could withstand the gravitational pressure inside, could we enter the wormhole and exit out the back side in a new world? What happens to light that passes the event horizon and cannot escape? What would it look like to a human within the event horizon looking at this light? Would things look differently, or would there be no change? If we could witness an object enter the event horizon of a black hole, is it true we would always see that object stuck on the edge of the black hole forever because of time dilation slowing it down so much from Earth's perspective? Is it true there are miniature black holes all around us right now? Can the large hadron collider produce black holes? Are black holes at all similar to dark matter? Can we use the gravitational changes around black holes for gravitational lensing to observe planets far away? What happens if black holes collide?

Grant Mildwaters

First-time questioner here. When we detected the gravitational waves from the black hole merger (GW190521), 9 Suns worth of mass-energy was converted into the waves. How does that happen? How does mass 'dissolve' into warping space-time?

Richy Livingston

FTQA (from my boyfriend Chris, really jazzed): If spectral data of galaxy UHZ1 confirms its redshift of 10.1, is it possible that its black hole was formed by the merging of black holes rather than direct collapse? Would that be a simpler explanation of how it exceeded the Eddington Limit?

Duckman

from son Charlie who LOVES black holes and wants to be an astronomer (age 9)He did his last school project on back holes, Big Ologies fan its our favorite car trip jam. from Charlie" Before the big bang was everything just one big black hole? and how did it get there?" also "spegetification??!!!"

Rachael Swenson

Do all galaxies have a black hole at the center? Are all stable black holes the center of a galaxy?

Craig and Cats

Can my cats and I go through one and survive? Where would we go? We love adventures! Also if there’s time be best friend who has to listen to me obsessively talk about ologies would like to know “but how?”

Duckman

from the adults in our house" is the universe just shaped like one of those water worm toys with a big black hole in the middle?"

Duckman

we are also wondering this, the white hole thing

Rachael Swenson

What is the earliest human understanding/knowledge about black holes? Are there any mythology or indigenous stories about them?

RaeBayBay

Could a black hole ever form or exist on earth/within our atmosphere??? Like what if a black hole just opened up in the middle of the Atlantic??

RaeBayBay

Also is there such thing/can you explain “pinhole” black holes? Aka really really tiny black holes.

Sarah Nyland

If you were close enough to see a black hole with your own two eyes, what might it look like? In addition: let’s say I’m floating in a spacesuit towards a black hole at like 35 mph or something. Do you know about how fast spaghettification would occur if I starting orbiting and falling into the event horizon of a black hole? Would it depend on how big it is, its spin velocity, etc? Would crossing an event horizon feel almost instantaneous most of the time? Sorry for the loooongwinded question 😅

Rachel Steele

First time questioner. If you were falling towards the event horizon and you could look back the direction came from (spaghettification aside) how would things look different than normal? (please excuse the awkward wording, English is my first language)

Justina Vasiliauskas

FTQA. how big does a black hole have to be to be considered a black hole? or it is the properties alone that make it a black hole? Can humans create a black hole?

Lindsay Malone

Asking for a husband who recently started listening to Ologies: Is it possible to have a stable orbit around a black hole when inside the event horizon? If so, would you recommend it as a long-term hiding place?

GhoulNextDoor

How are they created? Is it likely for one to pop up around earth?

C dB

Apparently after the Big Bang, gravity has been trying to regrab things into a single mass.again, but unable to… do we bang out of a singular black hole?

Jim Sabol

Second the part about Interstellar!! I loved that movie and the way it depicted some concepts blew my mind when I saw it for the first time, so I want to believe that Nolan had a good science-y team involved!

GhoulNextDoor

And are they stationary things? Or do they orbit or otherwise seem to move at all? (I know nothing about black holes aside from Farscape so I apologize if any of these questions are particularly not great, but I can’t wait to learn!)

Olivia Coppin

I KNOW (also so many grammatical errors oh lord)

Stephanie Coombes

Where does the energy go? How black are black holes?

Matt Hirschl

What is the chance the Big Bang was our universe going through a black hole? Side note, what do we think about Neil Degrasse Tyson’s hint on Cosmos that we are in a black hole right now?

Aileen Lands

Do black holes have a life span? Or do they gradually expand? If so, is the rate of expansion of all black holes greater or less than the expansion of the universe?

Tom Schaaf

I understand (from conservation of mass) that if our sun collapsed into a black hole nothing would happen to planetary orbits since the gravitational relationships would not change? I'm sure it would suck in other ways, but we would NOT get inexorably sucked into that object.

AubGoblin

1st timer! Could black holes be created purposefully by humans and then used as weapons of mass destruction? Also, do you get told a lot of "yo momma" jokes and do you maybe secretly have a favorite bc it's ok if u do.. 🤠

Bill LaBranche

In theory, would a black hole start off as a supermassive star, compress more and more and more and then at some point the gravity would exceed lights ability to escape, and the star would appear to "switch off"? or does it seem to happen as part of a supernova? Inquiring minds want to know WHEN DOES THE STAR GO DARK?

Ellie Taylor

1st Time asker (long time fan) What does it take for a black hole to “die” — cease to exist? Does it just leak energy over a long period of time? Or does it need to be fed to remain constant — (like sour dough starter) 🖤🍞

Nita Chen

Could a black hole meet another black hole? If so, what happens then?

Sam

If the universe is constantly expanding, WHAT is it expanding into??? I majored in astrophysics and every answer I’ve ever gotten to this question is unsatisfactory!!! The whole “the universe is all that there is so it’s like a ballon inflating” theory doesn’t make sense because even a ballon expands into the surrounding environment??? Thanks!!!

Ashley Marrs

FTQA Is there a connection between black holes and worm holes?

Austin Thompson

FTQA What is coming out of black holes? I heard matter is still preserved somehow, but what is it? Do we know?!

Aleggxandrea

What do you think of astrology? and I’m sorry if that’s a question you are sick of!

Sarah Meaden

The episode of Stargate where the team gets stuck on a planet being sucked into a black hole and it gets attached to the Stargate and starts affecting Earth still haunts me. So with time operating differently in a black hole, would you ever experience death? Or is that whole episode just a bunch of hooey and I should stop worrying about it.

Sarah Meaden

Oooh, also are black holes and dark matter related in any way?

Sam Nelson

About the expansion of spacetime. Is this something that only applies to gravity or will it eventually pull apart electromagnetism, the weak force and the strong force?

Tim Pfarr

Are black holes different from worm holes? (Are worm holes a thing or just a plot device for sci fi?)

The Joyful Spitfire

Is there a gradient of holes? Basically does a hole go from starting, to gray, to black?

Pamela Dudzik

An atom, on the subatomic level, has lots of empty space (ex: "cloud" of electrons). Does the material at the core of a black hole have any such space? (Asking for my brother :-) Mike)

Nicole Harper

What pieces of science are correct in the marvel movies around black holes?!

RegularGuy

Were you (are you) concerned about folks using particle accelerators, in their attempts to research, might inadvertently cause a black hole ending civilization as we know it???

Jerald Pratt

Are black holes infinitesimally small or infinitesimally large?

Mary Long

Does anything have a symbiotic relationship with black holes?

Paul S. R. Chisholm

The smaller a black hole is, the faster it "leaks" Hawking radiation. Tiny black holes would evaporate in a fraction of a second.

Pavka34

Could dark matter be plank mass black holes?

Sonjabird

Any advice for those of us who have a hard time conceptualizing big theoretical spacey things? It is so difficult for me to grasp things like black holes, dark matter etc.

Paul S. R. Chisholm

If you approach a rotating galaxy-sized black hole, or two moving black holes, you can exit before you enter. Not practical; no one's killing their grandparent.-)

Gaia Hutcheson

I heard black holes sing?? What's up with that? Can I listen to it?

Paul S. R. Chisholm

Black holes "leak" Hawking radiation, and can get smaller. Tiny black holes would evaporate in a fraction of a second.

Gene Phillips

I would love to learn a little more about rogue black holes.

Sami S

I second this!

Sami S

can black holes come in any ole shape, or are there specific parameters? like could we theoretically find a black hole that looks like a bowl or a shoe or something?

Valerie Hanley

Is there a theoretical other side? Where does everything that goes in, go?

Sami S

also colors!!! are black holes actually black? can they be different shades (black, grey, white) both in terms of labels but also actual coloring

JJD

Are we on the back side of a black hole that continues to pump in the dark matter and dark energy that is expanding our universe?

Jess Donald

What are the chances of Earth getting sucked into a black hole?

Average_pi

Will I turn into noodles in there? Or more like pancakes? Do they eat other black holes?

Gemma

spaghetti???????

Gemma

could i fit one in my pocket?

Gemma

what is x-ray astronomy?? why was it a game changer?

Gemma

are wormholes a thing??

Cassidy Weber

First time question asker! What are your thoughts on the black hole theory of the Tunguska event in Serbia? Was this a black hole passing through earth? Could that happen, and are particle-sized black holes possible? How close could they come to earth without us knowing?

Gemma

what are some signs a black hole is near?

Ashley Bower

Why has it taken us so long to get the first image of a black hole? Do you think it will be possible to get better images of black holes in the future?

Ryan Marlow

* Is there such a thing as a "micro" black hole? Or is there a minimum size limit? * Is there any evidence for the existence of "white holes" where matter re-emerges? * How does Hawking radiation work? Is it true that a black hole can eventually "evaporate" due to Hawking radiation? * Do black holes come in different types the way that stars do?

Ryan Marlow

I know you always ask this anyway but are there are movies that do it really well or really poorly with regard to black holes?

Cassidy Weber

What do we know about black hole stars? Were they a thing? Are they a thing? Could they be a thing?

DJ and Melissa

What is on the other side? Is there even another side?

Amandaloveskurt

My 12 year old son Richard wants to know what would happen if a black hole and a white hole met? And in that case what the heck is a white hole? I didn’t know that was a thing lol

Greg Lewis

Very recently I have read and heard general news sources that indicate that black holes have been in the universe much earlier than anyone previously imagined, at about the time that the first galaxies formed after the big bang. Does this imply that the big bang is an incorrect theory, or that the formation of black holes is much easier than expected?

TayBo33

Could the Big Bang have been the end of a once incredibly large black hole? If so, would that mean that the entire universe is just recycled Hawking Radiation from previous universes that also went through this cycle?

Greg Lewis

Why don't black holes at the center of galaxies (like the Milky Way) consume the entire galaxy?

Matchstick Merryweather

First time question asker! Help me understand all this buzz around "lab grown black hole" attempts and why scientists would even be interested in accomplishing this. Is there any benefit beyond understanding black holes, and is this actually possible?

Sara Rocero

Is there any evidence of a black hole once it evaporates?

Sara Rocero

If a black hole collapses in the universe, would anyone hear it? (Chuckle)

Ocean

First time question asker :) How do black holes affect the structure and evolution of the universe?

Sara Rocero

Could our entire universe be inside a black hole?

Elizabeth Mena

Yes! What happens to everything that gets swallowed up? Does it make the black hole bigger?

Jessie

And if it is possible, would it suck us up first?

Matchstick Merryweather

I mean that's the real reason we want to know, right!? If that's the case... How do we stop this from turning into a sci-fi horror documentary? 😳

Daniel White

Is a black hole with a duck-sized event horizon possible?

Lily

Are there more or less black holes now than in the beginning of the universe?

Lily

Is there a black hole older than the universe?

Lily

Do black holes birth stars!? What are we learning from the James Webb Space Telescope??

Lily

My Dad is curious if black holes used to be more dense/make up more of the universe than they do now? We talk about this all the time, I can’t wait to share this episode with him. Shout out Shawn ❤️🫶🏻🥹

Kai Muir

First time question asker! Are there any works of science fiction that you've encountered which include a plausible form of wormhole travel, or is it all bunk?

Valerie Hanley

Or does the black hole just spit out the stuff somewhere else?! I need answers

Erin Sorensen

First time question asker, (9 year old Zephyr) I read that black holes contain light but then why are black holes black?

Erin Sorensen

Please explain an Event Horizon.

Felipe Jimenez

Are black holes and worm holes similar? Different? Related?

Kaitlyn and Joe

What evidence is there that information that falls into a BH is actually encoded in a hologram on the surface of the event horizon and what does that say about the entire universe being a hologram?

Katy

How accurate is the depiction of black holes in the movie Interstellar compared to what we currently know about them, and what was good or misleading about it?

Hannah H

1st time question from my 13yo: how did the supermassive black holes at the centre of the galaxy get so flipping big!

Hannah H

1st time question from my 11yo: do black holes ever go out, or end, or explode like stars do?

Alena Litin

How did researchers figure out what a black hole sounds like?

Amelie Lu

Several questions (sorry, but maybe it's a good thing since you interview him so soon??): - Is it true that the black hole in the middle of our galaxy will eventually swallow said galaxy? - I've heard about white holes as a reverse of a black hole. Have we found anything yet that might be a white hole? Would we even be able to see it? Or might the light coming out of it (opposed to being swallowed by a black hole) lead us to mistaking it for a star? Also, my husband wants to know: - What exactly happens if/when a black hole swallows another black hole?

Euan Munro

Is there a maximum size that a black hole can be?

Alexandre Catulle

Can a black hole die? And what would be left after? A diamond?

Erik Steiner

From what I recall, a lot of info about black holes is still theoretical. Is there any media that has actually come close to what scientists believe is correct?

Aoife Holmes

Have humans ever lost anything to a black hole?

Aoife Holmes

Where is the nearest black hole to earth?

Earl of Greymalkin

1) How many black holes are there? Compared to the number of stars? Are they evenly distributed or found in clusters? As you look further away from earth/back in time how does this change? 2) If we can harness solar energy, is it possible to use black hole energy? 3) Who originally named them black holes and are there other terms or better descriptors? 4) If a black hole swallows an object like a star, how much material is brought in versus thrown out? How does that change with the size of the object? 5) What even is gravity???? What are any interesting current ideas? Is the field... gravitating... towards any particular explanations? 6) If two black holes merge, do the two singularities become a doublarity? How would it even work, do they get disturbed from their original state in the process? 7) People freak out about CERN maybe creating tiny black holes. What's actually happening there? How small could the smallest black hole be? Do they disappear? Where would they go?

Kate Noonan

FTQA "can hawking radiation be used to measure the size of a black hole?"

Kate Noonan

"Does the size of a super massive black hole dictate the size of thw surrounding galaxy?"

Kate Noonan

"Is there a singularity in the center of every black hole?"

Kate Noonan

"If light cannot escape the event horrizon, does that mean gravitational waves propogate gaster than light waves?"

Kate Noonan

"Is the light from a black holes acretion disc moving slower because of the black holes gravity?"

Megan Ramirez

Are all black holes essentially the same, or can they be different shapes and have, uh, more or less suckiness?

Anna Ilaria Crysel

Could earth ever be swallowed by a black hole?? 👀

Elaine

FTQA: Who named them black holes? Is it an appropriate name? Are they really black? And I heard something recently about "white holes" being the opposite of black holes (i.e. nothing can enter them, they eject matter) do you think they exist?

Deviancy

1st question ever! Do black holes ever transform into something else? Or is that the end state of something?

Susan Singley

What's all this I hear about white holes? Is this just nonsense or are they actually a thing?

Susan Singley

So, dark matter, is it real? Is it affected by black holes?

Susan Singley

Spagettification happens to matter...does it also happen to light and other forms of radiation?

Miloš Svirčev

Hi, I'd like to know what's your guest's favorite black hole - themed work of art (not necessarily a painting, it could be a song/album, a novel, a comic, a movie etc.).

AussieColin

Are white holes a real thing & if so, is there any theory to support the idea that matter falling into a black hole comes out somewhere else through a white hole?

Kaitlin J

Can a black hole eat another black hole?

AussieColin

I'm fascinated by the idea that you can have black holes so large that the event horizon is perhaps even galaxy size. How big does a black hole have to be before the event horizon is so large that objects/people falling into it are no longer going to be in danger of spagettification? ie that they still can't ever get out but they can enter without automatically being destroyed.

Stephanie Trout Berman

Can one hear a black hole (ahead of time) -in which case maybe one could avoid falling into one? *(In case I am shopping in space some day....)

Christine Pikstein (she/her)

How close is the nearest black hole? Could one develop closer to Earth? And is it too late to give them a better name?

Kat

How many of these things are out there per cubic whatever of space? How do you even map them?

Bálint Novák

How much of Interstellar was accurate? 😄

Adam Foote

Because of the post's sign-off, I'm now imagining Alie saying "Aww, Dadward" like "Aww, snap!" MORE IMPORTANTLY: Due to E=mc2, it should be theoretically possible to form a black hole using light! I think this has a name that I don't remember right now. Anyway, shouldn't we technically be able to "make" a black hole with any particle (electrons, neutrinos, Higgs bosons, etc.)? How much would you need? What about a dark matter black hole?

libby revel

1st time question asker! If the earth is swallowed by a black hole, what would we expect to see or not see once inside?

Caitlin Sexton

my first question ever! last i heard, no one was really sure how super-massive black holes got so super-massive because the math wasn't mathing. Has there been any progress on the theory and does it relate to dark matter? thanks!

glittertornado

Have we ever seen a black hole? Or is it impossible to see because it's eating light and we can only know it's there by what's around it?

kenn lippert

Alie, Love the show and your energy and excitement about all things ology. My question is: Is itnow generally accepted that all galaxies have a massive black hole at their core, and indeed they are the “seeds” of galactic formation? Are they all formed from the first super massive stars that lived and died in that first flurry of star formation soon after the big bang?

Surisitee

WHAT IS TIME LIKE IN A BLACK HOLE (ik time isn't real but like put it in earth terms maybe?)

Surisitee

What's the coolest thing in the experts opinion about black holes

Surisitee

How big of a dent does a black hole put in the bread of our universe (analogy someone used to help me understand spacetime)

Surisitee

SPACETIME IN GENERAL. SO INTESRESTING PLS TALK AB IT (ok sorry allie i got very excited im done spamming now(

Surisitee

Will it eventually consume the whole loaf 🤔 then what?

June Eskridge

Where is the nearest black hole to Earth? Is it just a melting pot of goo mass in the singularity? When black holes get so fluffy(mass heavy), could they explode? Do scientists think worm holes are possible? This is so fascinating!!!! Thx Dadward!

Arlo Kay

Spaghettification?

Arlo Kay

Does the ologist have any interest in going to space? Or does it scare the shit out of them too

Arlo Kay

What is the day to day job of the ologist? Like is it just looking at math equations?

Arlo Kay

Do you have any black home themed fashion recommendations? Or is that impossible

Arlo Kay

Not really a question but black hole sun by Soundgarden is a good song

JenFoosh

I'm captivated by black holes! I want to understand what we think we know and ponder some of the big open questions. Alas, I'm in my 40s and was a philosophy major. What should I learn to be able to read scientific papers in this area? (And, if possible, please work backwards from astrophysics to high school algebra 🫣). Another bachelor's degree isn't in the cards, but a lifetime of library books is! (Actually, Alie, I'd love for all your guests to answer that question - not "what should I read," because I know they're not reading primers anymore, but "what should I learn first?" Thanks from a first-time question -asker!

Beverley Sylvester

Hi! This might have more to do with relativity than black holes but just in case - could you please ask about the theory that if a person crosses the event horizon, since they are moving faster and faster (approaching the speed of light), time starts passing slower and slower (per relativity)? What would that look like to an outside observer vs. the person falling into the black hole (theoretically)?

Kait

⚫️Reverse black hole question! ⚪️ I started reading “White Holes: Inside the Horizon” by Carlo Rovelli and am still trying to understand the concept. Are black and white holes a stage in the same cycle? Are they two separate things? Is it like comparing an acorn and an oak tree or comparing a vacuum and a hair dryer? What’s the hot goss at the black hole-ologist water cooler?? And is it very obvious that I’m a first-timer question asker? Thank you!!!

jochemmkralt

1st question ever! How close could you get to a black hole without dieing / being sucked in / becoming spaghetti?

Bender

FTQA: What's the smallest black hole that's theoretically possible? What would its mass be? How about it's diameter? If any passed by me / through me / through the Earth, would we even notice?

Bender

FTQA: If dark matter makes up most of the mass in the universe, surely there's some in black holes? If so, what percentage of a black hole's mass is made of dark matter? Or do regular matter and dark matter never mix? If that's the case, are there dark-matter-only black holes? How would they be different than regular black holes?

Bender

FTQA: Which came first, stars or black holes?

Bender

FTQA: Do black holes always incorporate all matter they come in contact with? Or do they ever "get full" and stop eating? And is there a minimum "stable" size for a black hole, under which it just sort of fizzles out?

Voxothoth

2 questions! First, do you think there is a black hole larger than Ton 618 out there, or would we have found evidence of it by now? Second, why do the laws of physics as we know them break down in a black hole, and is there any conceivable way to try and figure out what happens beyond that?

Miranda Panda

Does the concept of a black hole break your brain? It breaks mine, but maybe since you study them it isn't as mind-melting? Or maybe because you study them it's even more mind-melting?

David and Miranda

Do things become one-dimensional inside black holes? And what does the ologist think of Liu Cixin's depiction of black holes and dimensionality

David and Miranda

What do they think of the theory that a primordial black hole passed through the Earth

Dave Miller, PhD

would you venture into (or even near) a black hole if it was physically possible?

Kevin Riggi

Are we ever going to be able to get any physical data from black holes other than imaging?

Ja Jo: Art & Craft

Do they last forever? Will the universe ever become a sea of blackholes?

Brittney Corrigan

How far away is the closest black hole to Earth? How many black holes have we discovered in our known universe?

Jim Hoftiezer

If the Hawking radiation is from one of the virtual particles that escape the event horizon while it's matter/antimatter partner enters the Black Hole how can the Black Hole evaporate?

Jim Hoftiezer

If in fact a Black hole can "evaporate", will it eventually appear as a Neutron Star?

Dane Camacho

if you could throw one thing into a black hole what would it be?

Dane Camacho

how does time work around a black hole?

FondoDondo35

Where does the event horizon occur and wth is it??

mish the fish

if i travel through a black hole will it cure my depression?

Jimmy Jones

I saw an online article about black hole stars, where a black hole lives at the center of a huge star that sustains fusion. How the heck do these things work? Have we ever looked at one? Is this just theoretical mumbo jumbo?

Mateo Mpinduzi-Mott

first time question asker: I’ve heard people say that the singularity at the center of a black hole got disproven... what? How? Is a singularity different from a black hole? Last name pronounced: MMM-pin-Doo-zee Mott (like the applesauce)

Don Elliot

Is the super massive black hole at the center of the (a) galaxy going to eventually swallow the whole galaxy (like down the drain)?

Don Elliot

This isn't directly a black hole question, but about dark matter, if that matters. Since 90% (or whatever the number) of the universe is dark matter, is 90% of the room I'm in full of dark matter? Like, is it everywhere? (sorry for the off tangent, but looking at all the other posts got me thinking.)

Gabby Sweet

A la Doctor Who, do black holes really cause time dilation?

Elie Zwiebel

Spaghettification: Is there a sillier name for anything as viscerally horrifying elsewhere in nature?

Scarlet P

I’ve heard that a black hole is when the mass of a star is so great that its force pf gravity is more than the speed of light… is this true? And does that mean light has measurable weight??

Scarlet P

Whats the newest weirdest thing scientists have learned about black holes?

Brenna Temple

I've read or heard somewhere that black holes spin at near the speed of light. Is this true? And if so would it ever be possible that it could spin at or greater than the speed of light and, what would happen?

Isabelle Newman

What happens to you if you go into a black hole

Isabelle Newman

Are there any weird conspiracy theories about black holes?

Thrizzle

Is it possible or evidence of this happening, two black holes colliding/merging?

Jackie G

My understanding is that the huge mass of a black hole results in so much gravitational force that light can't escape. Does a blackhole somehow have more mass than the star that created it? If not, how can light escape a star but not a black hole?

Michael Wegman

Is the mass gap a result of issues with the formulas of objects that dense, lack of observation, or both?

Andy Arson

What are black holes made of?

Aiden Dragon

How does the current thinking on dark matter affect how we understand black holes?

calvin f

Is the magnetic field that black holes generate a by product of the singularity moving matter all around or is it something else?

Sethlkap

How often do we encounter microscopic black holes and are there any effects from them?

Felix

What are the chances that we might one day observe a naked singularity? And what would we see?

Felix

oh I know this is gonna be answered in the episode but I can't restrain myself here. it is possible, in fact it happens all the time! we observe black hole mergers via the powerful gravitational waves they produce - ripples in spacetime itself

Bonnie M Rutherford

Are there any noticeable differences between individual black holes or are they all quite similar? Excluding size.

Audrey Hudak

NPR reported today that "Scientists [in Australia] have found a black hole so large it eats the equivalent of one sun per day" ....Will all of known existence eventually be consumed by black holes?

Megging

As you were being drawn toward the singularity, how much of the spaghettification process would you experience before you died?