4 ms·
Well, the other wrinkle here is that the "singularity" is a mathematical approximation. There's no such thing as hitting it -- from the outside, you just move
by bpodgursky 6y ago
Well, the other wrinkle here is that the "singularity" is a mathematical approximation. There's no such thing as hitting it -- from the outside, you just move asymptotically slower as you approach it.
- btilly 6y agoNot so fast. Black holes have a singularity in the middle, and an event horizon around them. There is no singularity at the event horizon, and that is all that we can see..
- juloo 6y agoThere might be naked singularities in case of a rapidly rotating black hole. The singularity would have a donut shape and might be outside of the event horizon. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naked_singularity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naked_singularity Of course, this is very theoretical and we don't actually expect that to exist.
- btilly 6y agoHuh, I thought that naked singularities were thought to not exist. But apparently in 2018 someone found a case where they could. Thanks!
- juloo 6y agoYou move asymptotically slower from the point of view of the particle falling in the black hole. From outside the black hole, the falling particle should fall into the black hole at a speed close to the speed of light. (but we can't observe that from the outside) The image an outsider would see "printed" on the black hole has nothing to do with where the falling particle is.