Expert: Ed - 6/15/2007

Question
why cant we send some type of camera or something into a black hole to see whats there or what isnt there or something.

Answer
Renae,

If we had a spaceship powerful enough to reach a black hole, (all the ones that we know of are VERY far away), then we could, possibly, send a camera into it.

However, even if the camera somehow avoided being crushed by the incredible gravity for long enough to take some pictures, it still couldn't transmit the pictures back to us.  So, we could never see them.  Remember, a black hole has so much gravity that not even light can escape.  X-Rays can escape, up to a point, but when they get really close to the black hole they get trapped.  

There would be no way for the camera to share the pictures with us, and anyway, it would probably just get smooshed before it could take anything worth looking at.

Look at this link:
http://cosmology.berkeley.edu/Education/BHfaq.html#q3

I would answer more, but I am at a wedding party this weekend for my cousin.  If you want to talk about this more, please get back to me on Monday.  In the meantime, here is an awesome link from NASA:
http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/science/know_l2/black_holes.html

I hope this is helpful.  Keep Looking Up!
--Ed