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Black holes and history

Posted by Darren S. on 1998/02/15 12:58

Okay, i've seen some detailed physical discussions about the
nature of black holes and their name. So to put the record straight
here's a little history that i'm sure i'll be corrected for later by
someone
who knows what they're talking about.

Back in ye old days there was a prison in Calcutta, it wasn't a nice
place, people went in and never came out again. It was referred to as
' The Black Hole of Calcutta '. So in case anyone still hasn't got it a
black hole is so called because things go in and don't come out again.
( and for the physical minded among you that's because there are no
paths leading out from inside the event horizon ( yes none at all ) ).

And for all of those people slagging off the film of the same name,
the two dimensional disc surrounding the event horizon was correctly
identified by someone else as an accretion disc and should look like
that, for proof look for any pictures of black hole and normal star
binary systems.

Personally I preferred the ending in the book, they all died, and
eveything
went a bit wibbly.

Pleasant Dreams,

Darren

Black holes and history

Posted by David C. on 1998/02/15 15:06

Previously, D.Snee wrote...

And for all of those people slagging off the film of the same name,

the two dimensional disc surrounding the event horizon was correctly
identified by someone else as an accretion disc and should look like
that, for proof look for any pictures of black hole and normal star
binary systems.

No-one has been slagging off The Black Hole for any reason other than
that it is a "B-movie" (which it isn't). I'm the only one who drew
attention to this, and my main concern was that black holes are
sometimes portrayed as actual 2-D holes. But it's probably an
over-simplification for the masses.

Personally I preferred the ending in the book, they all died, and
eveything went a bit wibbly.

What actually happened was, they got reduced to their constituent
particles and ended up being incorporated into the Universe as pure
thought - even the robot! The author also said they witnessed the
destruction of the Palomino, which is the ship they arrived in and which
actually got blown up about two-thirds through when the reporter tried
to escape in it - they went into the black hole in the Cygnus' probe
ship! Oh, I know, who cares - but it's either this or discussing the
scientific implications!

Incidentally, the shot near the end the film, with
Dr.Reinhardt/Maximillian standing there on a mountain in Hell, with
his/its arms all sticking out - is this a reference to some artist's
concept of Hades? (Anyone?)

I apologise to James Hadwen for mentioning science in this E-mail (as he
is in the same building as me, and bigger than me!).

Dave Chilard