We’re sure there is nothing to worry about…
It felt like only yesterday we were feeling all good and happy about black holes, when scientists had finally managed to successfully take an actual photo of one.
Remember?
Well, it is probably time to go right back to being terrified of them again…
Business Insider have spoken to scientists who have discovered that a new black hole – named V404 Cigni – is NINE TIMES the size of our Sun (bad news), but it is also 8,000 lightyears away from Earth (good news).
However, the Black Hole is drawing material from a nearby sun of its own, and as it collects more and more material, the temperature of the Black Hole is getting denser, hotter, and moving at a faster speed, causing what is scientifically known as a “wobble” (seriously).
This “wobble” can then distort time and space itself, and according to James Miller-Jones of the International Center for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR), “This is the only mechanism we can think of that can explain the rapid precession we see in V404 Cygni. You can think of it like the wobble of a spinning top as it slows down, only in this case, the wobble is caused by Einstein’s general theory of relativity.”
Does that mean anything for us on the long term?
No, not really. The time and space dragging is really just in the immediate vicinity of the Black Hole itself, so it is a bit like that planet on Interstellar where the time is passing at a different rate to other planets that are further away from the time drag.
But it is important to remember that while that was a sci-fi movie, this new time drag is a reality, and we’re one step closer to finding out a way to actually travel through time! (We think? We’re not scientists.)
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Aideen McQueen – Faith healers, Coolock craic and Gigging as Gaeilge
