Could We Ever Take Advantage of a Time-Warping Black Hole?

Entering a black hole comes with certain safety concerns. But could we take advantage of its time-warping capabilities from a distance?

By Conor Feehly
Jun 22, 2023 6:00 PM
Supermassive black hole
A swirling disk of material falls into a supermassive black hole. (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

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Imagine a future in which humans have built advanced spacecraft, capable of traveling at a significant percentage of the speed of light. Scientists have also become aware of a large black hole in our galactic neighborhood — now well within our reach.

When a team of researchers assemble to travel to the black hole, one curious question might rise above all others: “What would happen if we flew straight into it?”

For now, this hypothetical scenario is still a long way off. Yet for as long as we have been aware of black holes, scientists have wondered what mysteries lie beyond the event horizon — the edge of a black hole, representing the “point of no return,” where even light is unable to escape the bizarre object’s gravitational pull.


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