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What are the chances of a black hole swallowing the Earth? Kuya Kim answers


Can a black hole swallow planet Earth?

As seen on "24 Oras" on Tuesday, Kuya Kim discusses the region in space called the black hole.

Kuya Kim explained that according to NASA or the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in the United States, the black hole has a very strong gravitational pull that light cannot escape it.

In the event that if Earth enters a black hole, the tidal forces may destroy the planet.

"Kapag mas malapit ka, sobrang lakas ng gravitational effect. Maeelongate ka so mamamatay ka doon," said Arcy Sace, Philippine Space Agency's Science Research Specialist.

(If you are near [a black hole] the gravitational effect is very strong. You will be pulled in, elongated and die there.)

However, Kuya Kim said, it is impossible that this would happen since there are no black holes near our planet.

Black holes come in various sizes, sometimes as small as an atom. Some are huge, these are known as "Stellar" that are 20 times bigger than our sun.

There are also super massive black holes, that are more than one million times larger than our sun.

Scientists in the United Kingdom recently discovered one of the biggest black holes in space. The ultramassive black hole, with a mass of 30 billion suns and distance of more than two billion light years from Earth.

It can be found in the galaxy cluster, Abell 1201.

The black hole was discovered through the phenomenon called gravitational lensing.

"When you have an object that is massive, it will curve the fabric of space and time. Thus, the path that light travels through gets bent. In a sense, it gets lensed," said Sace.

"Understanding a black hole is a way of understanding our universe. Black holes ay ang driving mechanism behind galaxy evolution at kung paano tayo nabubuhay," he added.

The black hole nearest the planet is called Gaia BH1 is 1,600 light years away. This is not a threat to the planet.

Kuya Kim said learning about black holes should not be a cause of concern. Instead, these facts are helpful for us to understand our galaxy. -- Kimberly Tsao/BAP, GMA Integrated News

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