Space & Astronomy

Black hole collision may disrupt space-time

By T.K. Randall
September 18, 2015 ·  21 comments

What happens when two black holes collide ? Image Credit: NASA / Alain Riazuelo The two black holes, which are located in the quasar PG 1302-102, are believed to be so close together that the space separating them is only around the size of our solar system.

At a distance of 3.5 billion light years the monumental collision is unlikely to cause any problems for us here on Earth, but when it eventually does happen scientists predict that it will produce ripples in time and space that can be picked up from anywhere in the universe.The collision is expected to produce a blast equivalent to the power of 100 million star explosions, blowing away all nearby stars and planets while at the same time emitting gravitational waves - ripples in space-time predicted by Albert Einstein almost a century ago.

Given that the two black holes are unlikely to collide for another 100,000 years however it will be up to the scientists of the future to make sense of what happens afterwards.

Perhaps by then it will even be possible for them to go and observe the event first-hand.

Source: Popular Science | Comments (21)

Tags: Black Hole