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Astrophysics/black holes

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Expert: - 11/28/2011


Question
Hello,i was wondering if it was possible to see into a black hole.lets say we had the worlds most powerful cable attached to a near by planet or moon and we sent in some kind of camera.it could be a wireless camera,it could be some kid of telescope and even a robot.is there in any way,shape or form that we could see or find out what is on the other side of a black hole?

Answer
No, it's not possible.  Wireless cameras broacast via light (radio waves are light) and light can't escape a black hole.  Cable signals, either, which (the cable) would not survive the event horizon.  Past the event horizon, there's no way to get information actually outside of a black hole to "see" inside it.  The reason is that the gravitation is so strong that space essentially becomes one-way, like how we can only move forwards in time.

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Steve Nelson

Expertise

Fusion, solar flares, cosmic rays, radiation in space, and stellar physics questions. Generally, nuclear-related astrophysics, but I can usually point you in the right direction if it's not nuclear-related or if it's nuclear but not astrophysics.

Experience

Currently a physics professor at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin. Doctoral dissertation was on a reaction in CNO-cycle fusion, worked in gamma-ray astronomy in the space science division of the naval research laboratory in the high-energy space environment branch.

Organizations
Physics professor at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin.

Education/Credentials
Ph.D. in physics, research was on nuclear fusion reactions important in stellar fusion.

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