This is one of those headlines where I simultaneously think "cool" and now have a new source of low-grade background anxiety about. It can have a seat next to false vacuum collapse.
trollbridge•44m ago
The good news about black holes is that even if one transited the solar system, it would be extremely unlikely to come anywhere near earth.
ben_w•23m ago
The bad news is that if a black hole is not primordial, the minimum mass is high enough (2-4 M) that it doesn't so much "pass through our system" as "we pass through its".
I'm not 100% confident, but rough approximation suggests that a close approach of even 5 AU even at typical interstellar velocities might have an unplesant climate impact by increasing the eccentricity of our orbit.
mynegation•15m ago
Did you mean 5 AU or 5 ly? 5 AU at 2-4 M sol intuitively seems like a complete and utter havoc.
ben_w•3m ago
We know what something with about 2 solar masses looks like at about 5 light years, because there is such a thing: the Alpha Centauri system.
So (and again, this is very rough approximation) I mean AU: consider the high speed of interstellar encounters so it won't be there for long, and that it takes the full pull of Sol 6 months to turn us around 180°.
Also, yes, in general this would cause a lot of the Oort cloud to destabilise and a long period of bombardment of all the planets.
Zigurd•39m ago
Take comfort in the fact that compared to the size of the universe, the speed of light is like molasses in January. Cosmological eschatology is a very slow game, and the odds of you being alive and in the right place to be a spectator are literally astronomically small.
OneDeuxTriSeiGo•16m ago
In that case you may enjoy “The Blue Afternoon that Lasted Forever” by Daniel Wilson.
It seems like it would be the most efficient implementation of the Great Filter, since it would just look like a natural occurrence to any observers.
cousinbryce•40m ago
Anyone have guesses about how a transiting primordial black hole would effect a Sun like star? Paper is about tidal forces inducing supernova in white dwarfs. For that matter how might it effect sea tides?
pavel_lishin•18m ago
For the latter, you mught enjoy Greg Egan's "Perihelion Summer".
ButlerianJihad•15m ago
Sun-like stars are effected by a concentration of critical mass that results in stable nuclear fusion.
Tides on Earth are effected by the Moon’s gravity.
Wouldn't Type Ia supernovas caused by blackholes have a different brightness?
That could mean the entire cosmic ladder needs to be revised, maybe this could resolve the crisis in cosmology..
sgt101•34m ago
Could this kind of trigger effect the standard candle application of Type 1a's? For example, if a black hole triggers a type 1a and that perturbs the type 1a light curve in some way (possibly because less mass could be consumed in the explosion than you would get if one was triggered by mass accretion) and the rate of triggering of this kind changed over time as the universe aged and somehow the population of primordial black holes changed, or the distributions of white dwarf candidates and pbhs changed...
Schlagbohrer•27m ago
3-Body-Problem once again vindicated as the scariest possible explanation for the Fermi Paradox
criddell•16m ago
Do you intend to say dark forest hypothesis?
Schlagbohrer•4m ago
Yes!
9dev•14m ago
Many physicists have pointed out several flaws in the dark forest theory, which makes for a great read but doesn’t really carry over to the real universe 1:1.
Schlagbohrer•3m ago
Can you point me to more info on that or just tell me? I am curious about reasons to be more optimistic than that book lays out. I would much prefer the Carl Sagan view of the Cosmos as one where it simply makes no physical nor cultural sense at all to be aggressive toward other stellar civilizations.
empath75•57m ago
trollbridge•44m ago
ben_w•23m ago
I'm not 100% confident, but rough approximation suggests that a close approach of even 5 AU even at typical interstellar velocities might have an unplesant climate impact by increasing the eccentricity of our orbit.
mynegation•15m ago
ben_w•3m ago
So (and again, this is very rough approximation) I mean AU: consider the high speed of interstellar encounters so it won't be there for long, and that it takes the full pull of Sol 6 months to turn us around 180°.
Also, yes, in general this would cause a lot of the Oort cloud to destabilise and a long period of bombardment of all the planets.
Zigurd•39m ago
OneDeuxTriSeiGo•16m ago
https://web.archive.org/web/20260310115201/https://www.willi...