Have you seen the picture of the black hole?
I just can’t get excited about it.
The thing is 8 hours and 55 million light years from where I live.
Visiting it is not an option.
From what I understand about black holes (which isn’t much) … visiting isn’t a good idea anyway.
There’s nothing to do there.
It’s just a bunch of gravity.
Which sucks.
And that brings me to the picture.
It looks like it was taken accidentally.
Like the picture was snapped before the focus was adjusted.
I’ve taken similar pictures by slipping my phone into my pocket with the camera active.
I can’t actually see ‘a hole’.
A better description than “black hole” would be “blurry orange hoop”.
Holes are defined by the stuff around them.
Donuts, for example.
The only difference between the hole in a donut and a black hole is one of them is surrounded by cake.
The point is, they’re both invisible.
Invisible things are not good subjects for photographs.
Photographing holes is like recording silence.
Or talking to a mixed drink.
But I shouldn’t be sarcastic.
Kudos to science for an incredible technological achievement.
A picture of a black spot against a black background.
What a great time to be alive!
3 Responses
Great post, John!
I read an hysterically funny short story decades ago. There was an enterprising door-to-door salesman selling the latest gadget to housewives.
His product was a unique garbage can. All the purchaser had to do was toss garbage into the “can” and the garbage would disappear. No more lugging bags or garbage cans out to the road or landfill.
A physicist’s wife purchased one. He rapidly became alarmed at home, when he discovered each “can” contained miniature black holes. As garbage (matter) went into the cans, the black holes got bigger, until they overpowered the stasis field they were contained in. The physicist tried to find the salesman, but he had disappeared. He tried to warn his neighbors, but they, and their homes were disappearing, gale force winds were pouring into now visible small black 🕳 s.
Earth was being sucked into the dark maws of growing black holes, about to coalesce into one big one. Moon and Solar system next…
Perhaps the salesman stopped “8 hours and 55 million light years away” first, to sell his black hole trash cans.
I’ve been adding the word, “alleged” in every headline.
It keeps me grounded.
“I’m keeps [sic] me grounded.”
It’s “alleged” that evangelicals are literate, but I don’t see much evidence around this blog. Or maybe, there’s just a black hole inside your head.
Allegedly.