Earth Absorbed By Black Hole??

Question

Is it possible that Earth will be absorbed by a
gigantic black hole someday??

Answer 1

Very possible. But we will be dead and so will our great, great, great, great, great, well you get the point, not anytime soon. By then our technology will be so advanced that we will probably take everyone to another planet, or maybe stop it from happening alltogether.

Answer 2

How far into the future do you want us to push the 'prediction'?

Our present orbit around the sun is relatively stable (over a few billion years) and the Sun's orbit around the centre of the Galaxy (Milky Way) is very stable, relative to the central black hole. The number of smaller black holes in our neighbourhood of space is very small. So, extremely small probability over the next few billion years.

In 5 billion years or so, the Sun will puff up into a red giant and its surface will extent to 'approximately' the size of our present orbit. Meanwhile, as the sun loses mass (producing the energy we perceive as light and heat), our orbit will have gotten a bit larger. Will it get large enough to avoid being engulfed by the expanding sun? It's going to be a close call. Do prepare an evacuation plan just in case.

In any event, at some point the Sun will shed its outer layers before becoming a white dwarf. That will be about one third of its present mass ejected (forming a planetary nebula). This means that Earth will have to survive going through this tenuous but hot plasma. Actually, it is the plasma that will move through our position, but the effect is the same.

Then, within a billion year of that event, there will be the long-awaited collision between the Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy. The probability that actual stars or planets collide is very small (lots of space between stars). However, our orbit may be disrupted.

Our spur (part of the spiral arm where we are) will be disrupted and may end up being ejected from the newly forming elliptical giant galaxy, as part of an 'antenna'.

Or not. Most stars will remain with the new giant galaxy. However, they will be in somewhat chaotic orbits at first and some of them may end up in one of the two black holes (ours or Andromeda's).

The black holes themselves will combine. The orbits of the remaining stars will settle down and, if Earth still exists at that time and is still orbiting the now dwarf sun, itself on a stable orbit in the new galaxy, then we should be good for another 5 to 10 billion years.

So, yes, it is possible (if so, then it could be during the galactic collision). However, the probability is relatively low (as in, less than 1%). There is a much higher probability (up to 50%, maybe?) that Earth will not survive the sun's red giant stage very well.

In any event, I'm far more worried about the red giant phase. Even if Earth survives it, life will simply not be the same after that.

Answer 3

It's imposable to say. We can estimate the probability of an asteroid hitting the Earth because we can look at the geological record and see how many hit us; what size they where and over what time period all this happened, then we can observe space and see the asteroid density and their orbits. From all this we can then calculate the probability of being hit by various sized asteroids. With black holes we don't know how common they are; or whether we have any close encounters in that passed - and if so how often. All we can say is that there is one in the centre of the galaxy and Cygnus X1 is one. We can deduce what the probable formation rate of black holes is from the rate of star formation of the size of star needed to become a black hole - but as we have never seen that transformation its all a bit theoretical. So with virtually no data we can't really begin to guess.

Answer 4

It is unlikely because of the vast distances between stars in our galaxy and the fact that gravitational attraction diminishes rapidly with distance. The nearest star from earth is about four light years away! Even if our sun (which has too little mass to become a black hole) became a black hole, the gravitational pull on earth would not increase. A black hole does not magnify its gravitational pull on celestial objects outside its event horizon. A black hole has tremendous gravitational attraction within its event horizon because its mass is condensed into a point (singularity) and can be approached. On earth, we are prevented by the earth's surface from nearing its center (not to mention the heat and pressure) and if we reached the center, there would be equal mass above us in all directions and the net gravitational attraction would be zero and equal in all directions. However if the mass of the earth was concentrated into a point, we could approach it with none of it above us and the inverse laws of gravity would greatly magnify its attraction for us.

Answer 5

Alongwith, the complete solar system (which includes the Sun). Also, many other star systems ( complete galaxy, or part, thereof) will be swallowed by the black hole. Long before this, though, the Sun would have become a cooled-down Red Giant star and swallow its own solar system. Thereafter, the Sun itself will burn out, in a couple of billion years. So, when the "black hole" does swallow our own galaxy, it will swallow only the existing star systems in our galaxy, during that period of time.

This is just "one possible" science speculation, out of countless, possible scenarios! Black holes (gigantic ones, as you mention, are "theorized" (based on inferences, drawn on variously processed experimental data) to swallow complete galaxies, while, other completely new galaxies take birth alongside and / or elsewhere.

Answer 6

It's a fact.
Not only earth but the entire milky way galaxy will be sucked into the black hole from the center of the galaxy.

Answer 7

In the next twenty billion years? Sure.

But not tomorrow, and not in your life time.

The closest Black hole we know of is at least 20 light years away and isn't even moving toward us.

Answer 8

Yes

Answer 9

it's possible, but the presence of black holes in the vicinity of our star is almost certainly nil.

Answer 10

Sure. Anything is possible. Likely? I doubt it.