Black holes are on collision course
Student Society for Science 18-1-15
https://student.societyforscience.org/article/black-holes-are-collision-course?mode=topic&context=60
SCIENTIFIC SHIELD: Space
SUMMARY:
Black holes are regions of space where the gravitational field is so intense that no matter nor light can escape. In the center of a distant galaxy — a massive collection of stars — two supermassive black holes are now preparing to face off. The two are closer to each other than any other known black-hole duo. And they are providing astronomers a first peek at the final stages of a possible collision.
The two black holes live roughly 3.7 billion light-years away so they aren't a problem for us . Their home is a quasar witch brightness typically varies randomly. But for the last two decades, light from this quasar has not. It has varied.
Its thought that it happened because of the two black-holes.
A distance of just a few hundredths of a light-year separates the black holes. So they seem destined to spiral together and eventually merge. This smashup will likely result in a single, behemoth black hole. But don’t hold your breath awaiting the fireworks. This collision is still roughly 1 million years off.
CRITICAL APPRAISAL:
When we are travelling by car we always complain because our destination is too far. When we talk about space distances we can't imagine how far are two things that appear to be very closer.
This review makes me think in the inferiority of our brains. We can't imagine everything that happens around us and a black holes merge is one of this things. We aren't able to see them but we try to understand them.
The space is something unknow. Maybe, one day, the sun kills us whit a solar-ray or maybe a meteorite destroy the Earth by accident.
We won't be able to know everything that happens outside our solar system.
GLOSSARY:
black hole: A region of space having a gravitational field so intense that no matter nor radiation (including light) can escape.
light-year: The distance light travels in one year, about 9.48 trillion kilometers (almost 6 trillion miles). To get some idea of this length, imagine a rope long enough to wrap around the Earth. It would be a little over 40,000 kilometers (24,900 miles) long. Lay it out straight. Now lay another 236 more that are the same length, end-to-end, right after the first. The total distance they now span would equal one light-year.
quasar: Short for quasi-stellar light source. This is the brilliant core of some galaxy (massive collections of stars) that contains a super-massive black hole. As mass from the galaxy is pulled into that black hole, a huge quantity of energy is released, giving the quasar its light.
random: Something that occurs haphazardly or without reason, based on no intention or purpose.