Skygazers in the western United States will get a special autumn treat when the full moon rises Sunday, Sept. 27. For the first time in 33 years, a “supermoon” combined with a lunar eclipse will grace the early evening sky, making the moon glow red and appear slightly bigger. » More …
Sandia National Laboratories physicist Marcus Knudson is the first joint faculty appointee to serve both Sandia and Washington State University. Using Sandia’s unique Z machine, he will enhance fundamental research into the compression of materials under extreme conditions. » More …
Alien life might flourish on an exotic kind of carbon dioxide, according to a new study co-authored by Dirk Schulze-Makuch, professor at Washington State University’s School of the Environment. This “supercritical” carbon dioxide, which has features of both liquids and gases, could be key to extraterrestrial organisms much as water is to biology on Earth. » More …
If there were a black hole between the Earth and the moon, what would you see?
Donuts in the sky. That’s the easy answer, explains Dr. Universe.
The more difficult, and probably much more painful, answer depends on your view. You’d see a spot in the sky where light disappears as if going down the bathtub drain. You might see the oceans lift from the Earth and float away into space. You could see the black hole change from a point of nothingness to a color-shifting tiny orb. It would deepen from red to blue as it sucks everything into it, including you, stretching everything out like taffy on a medieval torture device.
What a black hole does it take a lot of stuff and put it into a small space. It’s like taking a gallon of milk and making it fit into a cup. Then making that cup fit into a tablespoon. Then doing that a billion times.
So what would we see if a black hole showed up between the moon and us?
“You would see rings,” says Michael Allen, a senior instructor of physics and astronomy at Washington State University. Ring inside of ring inside of ring, getting bigger and bigger. “Like multiple donuts. A bunch of donuts in the sky.”