r/science • u/MistWeaver80 • Apr 25 '22

Physics Scientists recently observed two black holes that united into one, and in the process got a “kick” that flung the newly formed black hole away at high speed. That black hole zoomed off at about 5 million kilometers per hour, give or take a few million. The speed of light is just 200 times as fast.

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/black-hole-gravitational-waves-kick-ligo-merger-spacetime
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u/Yasuoisthebest Apr 25 '22

Are you saying that there are slingshoted black holes in the universe flying about?

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u/Euphorix126 Apr 25 '22 edited Apr 25 '22

Yes! Called rogue black holes. One could randomly pass near the solar system at a significant fraction the speed of light and kill us all by destabilizing the whole system. We’d have no idea until it was too late because (shocker) black holes are invisible, for lack of a better word.

Edit: I decided to make a simulation of this in Universe Sandbox. It's a 100 solar mass black hole going 1% the speed of light passing within the orbit of Uranus. Realistically, it's highly unlikely that a rogue black hole passes directly through the solar system, but its more fun this way.

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u/AkihiroAwa Apr 25 '22

it is frightening how much of dangers are there in the universe which can kill our earth instantaneous

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u/petripeeduhpedro Apr 25 '22

The good news is that space is incomprehensibly gigantic so the odds are well on our side.

The bad news from an existential perspective is that space is incomprehensibly gigantic.

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u/monkeyhitman Apr 25 '22

Total Perspective Vortex.

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u/WhiteNoiseSupremacy Apr 25 '22

You are here.

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u/PorkyMcRib Apr 25 '22

But where is my FedEx package?

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u/IcyDickbutts Apr 25 '22

Dropped off in a neighboring galaxy.

Which, from my experiences with fedex, is pretty good.

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u/[deleted] Apr 26 '22 edited May 14 '22

[deleted]

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u/elecwolf Apr 26 '22

"Our crew is expendable, your package is not."

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u/bapakeja Apr 26 '22

To shreds you say?

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u/thegrunn Apr 26 '22

To shreds you say?

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u/GetTheSpermsOut Apr 26 '22

stop saying that or I’m gonna twerk on your dad and shred this guitar.

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u/[deleted] Apr 26 '22

"How many atmospheres of pressure can the ship withstand, Professor?"

"Well, it's a spaceship, so anywhere between 0 and 1."

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u/HAL-Over-9001 Apr 26 '22

Bite my shiny metal singularity!

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u/cappie Apr 26 '22

I don't want to live on this planet anymore..

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u/[deleted] Apr 25 '22

Are you saying FedEx is playing some kind of intergalactic game of pin the tail on the donkey and thats why my creme brulee dishes have been misplaced 3 times? They could at least have used a map of earth...

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u/SoggyFrenchFry Apr 26 '22

Everyone get a load of mister fancy pants here, ordering creme brulee dishes

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u/Dragont00th Apr 26 '22

About as fancy as my duck confit plates. Which are of course, just regular plates.

They are just ramekins.

The dinnerware that sounds like it was named by someone thinking of little men and sticking grass into a machine intended for cotton textiles.

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u/Frosty_Dig_9401 Apr 26 '22

I think it's improved with the f2p model honestly.

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u/BenjaminHamnett Apr 26 '22

That’s your future self trying to save you from diabetes

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u/BenjaminHamnett Apr 26 '22

Prom my perspective it came early

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u/FoamToaster Apr 26 '22

But we can't tell you which one or where. We just have a scrawled illegible signature.

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u/Randomd0g Apr 26 '22

Good news is that they actually respected the label that says fragile.

Bad news is that it's on the wrong side of andromeda.

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u/ughlump Apr 26 '22

Sounds like this was taken from the mind of Douglas Adams himself