could you catch up to someone falling into a black hole

The Institute for Theory and Computation also models, among many black hole research topics, the high-energy conditions that occur when gas clouds or stars fall onto a black hole. The research draws on astronomy, physics, mathematics, history of science, and philosophy to better understand these fascinating objects. The Black Hole Initiative joins CfA astronomers with other colleagues from Harvard University to form the first center in the world to focus on the study of black holes.

CfA scientists monitor Sagittarius A* and are currently observing a star, or pair of stars, being shredded by the supermassive black hole. This high-energy radiation can penetrate obscuring gas and dust, giving us an X-ray view of the action. NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory observes the X-rays from the superheated material falling onto the black hole. The Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian works on all aspects of black hole research, across all wavelengths and scales, from the observational to the theoretical. Four more observatories, including CfA’s Greenland Telescope, are being added to the array for the next set of black hole images. The Event Horizon Telescope opens a new window to extreme physics at the edge of a black hole.

These observations revealed the strong effects of gravity expected near a black hole and observed matter orbiting at near light speeds. In 2017, eight radio observatories, including the CfA’s Submillimeter Array, were linked to create an Earth-sized interferometer. Scientists at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian led the effort that created the first image of matter near the event horizon of M87’s supermassive black hole using the Event Horizon Telescope.

Could you catch up to someone falling into a black hole