Watch BBC Supermassive Black Holes (2000) Documentary Online


According to the general theory of relativity, a black hole is a region of space from which nothing, including light, can escape. The supermassive black hole in our own galaxy may be the reason we exist, but recent work suggests it may also be our end. At present Earth is so far away from the black hole that it can’t affect us, but physicist John Dubinski thinks all that could change.

In January 2000 he graphically simulated the final fate of our galaxy. In 3 billion years we will collide with the next door galaxy, Andromeda. The resulting apocalypse will force the Earth and our Solar System out of orbit. Dubinski has calculated a worrying 50:50 chance that we’ll be sent hurtling in towards the black hole at the centre of this maelstrom.

This would be fatal for the Earth.

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