• Question: Do you think our solar system is in a black hole and if Earth went out of the black hole it would join another solar system? If not what is your theory about the solar system?

    Asked by larabrown1611 to Aled, Ellie, Fiona, Kev, Willem on 11 Mar 2014.
    • Photo: Willem Heijltjes

      Willem Heijltjes answered on 11 Mar 2014:

      Hi Lara!

      We are pretty sure the solar system is not in a black hole! We know pretty good what a *normal* black hole is: it’s unbelievably heavy, and its gravity is so strong that light cannot escape. This kind of gravity breaks *everything* that falls into it. So, since we aren’t flat as a dime, we are not in a black hole 😉

      But *maybe* what you mean is a *wormhole*…

      This is a theoretical idea: a black hole (which “swallows” everything) on one side, connected to a “white hole” (which spits everything out) on the other.

      In this case, the idea is *very* theoretical: mathematically, a wormhole is not *absolutely* impossible, but that is really all! Because, to make a wormhole, the black hole has to stand completely still. We don’t think this could happen: black holes form when big stars collapse, and if the star is spinning only a tiny amount, the black hole will spin really fast (like a ballerina bringing in her arms to spin faster).

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