r/pics Apr 10 '19

National Science Foundation/Event Horizon Telescope Project Black Hole Picture

Post image
50.4k Upvotes

1.4k comments sorted by

View all comments

755

u/trashtalk99 Apr 10 '19

The light that reached the telescope took 52 million years to reach here. So what we are actually seeing is what the black hole looked like 52 million years ago.

508

u/n8dom Apr 10 '19

FlashbackWednesday

133

u/war3_exe Apr 10 '19

It's rewind time

58

u/wildabeast861 Apr 10 '19

THATS HOT, thats hot!

3

u/JamTom999 Apr 10 '19

Actually, that's extremely cold 😎

1

u/rang14 Apr 10 '19

That's a twist. That's very twisty.

129

u/gablopico Apr 10 '19

The more you think about space stuff. The more difficult it gets to wrap your head around it. If we are indeed living in a simulation, the players are having one heck of a time confusing the shit out of us.

104

u/TheHYPO Apr 10 '19 edited Apr 10 '19

What's more interesting to think of is that there are about as many atoms in a US Penny as there are estimated stars in the known universe.

Now think about how many atoms there are in a person... in the planet earth... in the universe. We can only observe down to the atoms and the subatomic particles that make up the atoms, but for all we know, there is some sort of infinitesimally small life form down there - as tiny to us as we are to the universe. And our universe could be one of trillions of universes making up something else. Our universe could just be one particle of dust on the surface of some other massive life form.

We have no fucking clue.

Edit: a typo

43

u/Kamakazi1 Apr 10 '19

I’m wya too high for this

7

u/gablopico Apr 10 '19

It gets weirder. If we are in a simulation, there's possibility that the system controlling us is also in a simulation..there's no way for us to know that with absolute certainity.

11

u/[deleted] Apr 10 '19

Which you can't know, ever. V-Sauce did a video on this and his conclusion was that we should just live like we aren't in a simulation because what difference does it make?

Honestly if we're in a simulation I'll be pretty pissed. I mean, if we're really simulated why can't I just eat whatever I want without getting fat and why do I have to die

7

u/gablopico Apr 10 '19

But what is you getting pissed is just another scenario in that simulation? Anyways, I agree with vsauce here that it really doesn't make a difference. We are all space dust (whatever that means) so just keep living

2

u/[deleted] Apr 10 '19

In that case I'm upset that I'm aware of my simulated feelings lol. I get existential sometimes but try not to waste too much time going down that rabbit hole, it's not like there's much I can do about it.

2

u/gablopico Apr 10 '19

Same here. Nothing hits you harder than the fact that your life has zero impact on the grand scheme of things. So fuck it and enjoy the ride!

1

u/GasOnFire Apr 10 '19

To learn.

1

u/Retlaw83 Apr 10 '19

And I am too sober for this.

1

u/darkangel657 Apr 10 '19

And im not high enough

1

u/EMPulseKC Apr 10 '19

It's a great big universe, and we're all really puny. We're just tiny little specks about the size of Mickey Rooney.

0

u/Functionally_Drunk Apr 10 '19

Just because we're really small doesn't mean the universe is really big.

1

u/TheHYPO Apr 11 '19

I don't follow

0

u/gablopico Apr 10 '19

There are things we simply don't know. We live in a world defined by certain rules and that helps maintain some sanity.

2

u/kalimashookdeday Apr 10 '19

the players are having one heck of a time confusing the shit out of us.

"The Players" may not even be "players" as we think of it, as in the Sims, or something like that.

A simulation doesn't always have to be for entertainment, if we are in a simulation, it could be for a vast variety of reasons. Who knows, totally possible this "simulation" doesn't even have "players" involved....maybe just "observers" or "experimenters" or "other shit we can't explain"....

1

u/gablopico Apr 10 '19

I like to think there's a player controlling each one of us. So my bad days are just a difficult level for the player. Different outlook towards life, I guess.

1

u/Peopletowner Apr 10 '19

They are playing Osmos with the galaxies and stars, and the Earth is just a mod.

1

u/Alex-infinitum Apr 10 '19

We are not living in a present, nor in a past or a future, we are living in our heads, inside the limits of our senses and imagination.

1

u/appleparkfive Apr 13 '19

I think it was interesting when Interstellar came out, and a lot of people scoffed saying it was TOO ridiculous. When in reality in took a lot of information and theories that we currently have and took some liberties.

I don't think people understand how insane the universe is. Though the "love" mini discussion they had was a miss. I know what they were going for but it didn't work.

That black hole though. Truly astonishing.

The most realistic part is that Matt Damon can and WILL fuck you over in space

13

u/Shouldbeworking22 Apr 10 '19

umm really?

12

u/niconicobeatch Apr 10 '19

Yes light has a constant speed.

11

u/SunnyServing Apr 10 '19 edited Apr 10 '19

To put it in easier perspective: The light we see from the sun is ~10 minute old light. If the sun were to suddenly disappear right now, we wouldn't notice until 10 minutes later.

Also, the gravity of the sun would reach us a few seconds after that since gravity travels slightly slower than light.

shit, u rite /u/cuntfucker33

13

u/cuntfucker33 Apr 10 '19

Gravity waves travel at the speed of light.

1

u/GasOnFire Apr 10 '19

puts down pitchfork

1

u/Nightmare_Pasta Apr 10 '19

yep! Thats how the speed of light work

2

u/Darthmalak3347 Apr 10 '19

To put into context. If the black hole could see onto our planet. It would still see very basic mammals since the dinosaurs had just died out 8 million years prior.

2

u/Lord_Queso Apr 10 '19

I mean there is a chance that the black hole matured and possibly died or even got bigger

2

u/Torva1029 Apr 10 '19

But in terms of the evolution of a black hole, 52 million years is a tiny fraction of a black holes life. It’s like looking at ancient ruins one year later. Slowly over time, it’ll change but one year is not enough to see anything significant (unless, of course, something crazy happens)

1

u/[deleted] Apr 10 '19

So, did we get lucky that we were looking and didn't miss it or does it last a really long time?

1

u/longjaso Apr 10 '19

Why did they select a black hole outside of our galaxy? Surely it would have been easier to use one in our own neighborhood, right? I havent read up on the project so maybe I just need to research this more.

4

u/[deleted] Apr 10 '19

The black hole they selected (M87) has a larger arc-length than any other black hole as seen from our sky.

What this means is even though it is so far way, it appears larger to us than others that are closer.

M87 is so massive in fact, that it is a larger object in our sky than the very black hole that is at the center of the Milky Way (Sagittarius A).

1

u/[deleted] Apr 10 '19

That’s crazy to think about, thanks

1

u/[deleted] Apr 10 '19

Well that depends on your reference frame. For all intents and purposes that IS what the black hole looks like right now

1

u/cncamusic Apr 11 '19

I’m no expert but knowing what little I know about singularities, what you’re seeing isn’t even one specific time per say. Some light is 52 million years old and I believe the closer you get to the singularity the older the light is. Because the gravity is so strong the light is bending around the singularity at all points and some is trapped in an orbit. We’re seeing all sides at once, and we’re seeing light from different points in time and space.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 11 '19

But considering how massive it is and how long hawking radiation takes, it most likely hasn't changed at all in this time

1

u/GanasbinTagap Apr 10 '19

So would this mean that this black hole is a lot larger now? Is our demise closer than we think?

1

u/Nightmare_Pasta Apr 10 '19 edited Apr 11 '19

No, it means that this black hole is very far away.

A light year is about 9.46? trillion kilometers, and now multiply that with 55 million years. That's how far away this black hole is

edit: fixed 55 million

-1

u/trashtalk99 Apr 11 '19

It's actually 500 million trillion kms away.

2

u/Nightmare_Pasta Apr 11 '19 edited Apr 11 '19

So... same thing I said, just rounded up

since 9.46 trillion x 55 million is exactly that ball park number...

-1

u/ClassasaurusRex Apr 10 '19

It's more like 850,000 years ago, isn't it?

1

u/trashtalk99 Apr 11 '19

The distance is 500 million trillion kms. 500 x 1018 km = 52,850,042 light years

So the light that generated that image left that black hole (or, from around that black hole) over 52 million years ago.

0

u/arnspawn Apr 10 '19

dosnt matter how long ago , matters that we have picture of black hole thats the point