r/spaceporn • u/npjprods • Jan 16 '22

The first simulated image of a black hole, calculated with an IBM 7040 computer using 1960 punch cards and hand-plotted by French astrophysicist Jean-Pierre Luminet in 1978 Pro/Processed

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u/yerrrrrrp Jan 16 '22

They don’t “tear” the “fabric” of spacetime. We don’t even have a physical explanation for what that would mean.

If you want a simple one-liner: a black hole is a region of space where gravity is so strong that light cannot escape.

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u/Destructicon11 Jan 17 '22

This is also true. But to be fair I dont think either "one-liner" gives a good sense of the broader picture.

The way I presented it, as simple as i could make it, just resonated with me better.

🤷‍♂️

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u/yerrrrrrp Jan 17 '22

Yeah but there’s no scientific basis for that explanation. It doesn’t “give a better picture” if it’s just plainly false.

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u/Destructicon11 Jan 17 '22

Actually there is a scientific basis for that metaphor. And to say they are essentially just a place that light cant escape is describing one characteristic about a very complex system without explaining or describing what it actually is at all.

A fever is not the whole sickness, it is a symptom. So when you describe your flu symptoms to someone, you dont say "its basically just a fever" you say "it basically feels like im dying."

Not exactly a good scientific description, but a good enough metaphor to get the point across.

And if you still feel I have spoken improperly well let me just say that this conversation has become extremely uninteresting and I dont care about your opinion anymore.

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u/yerrrrrrp Jan 17 '22

I wasn’t trying to be rude, just straightforward. That being said, there is indeed zero scientific evidence of black holes “tearing a hole in the fabric of spacetime”. The only thing we do know is that light cannot escape a black hole (which brings this back to the original comment: we know so little about black holes), so I’m afraid your fever metaphor just doesn’t apply here. Everything else is just speculative theory or blockbuster sci-fi.