Rogue Black Holes
Their gravity is so strong they swallow everything, even the light that might betray their presence. David Bennett of Notre Dame University in Indiana managed to spot two black holes recently by the way they distorted and amplified the light of ordinary, more distant stars. Based on such observations, and even more on theoretical arguments, researchers guesstimate there are about 10 million black holes in the Milky Way.
They are believed to be leftovers from the creation of the Milky Way. Gravitational radiation is what sends these monsters out into space. These objects orbit just like other stars, meaning that it is not terribly likely that one is headed our way. But if a normal star were moving toward us, we'd know it.
With a black hole there is little warning. A few decades before a close encounter, at most, astronomers would observe a strange perturbation in the orbits of the outer planets. As the effect grew larger, it would be possible to make increasingly precise estimates of the location and mass of the interloper. The black hole wouldn't have to come all that close to Earth to bring ruin; just passing through the solar system would distort all of the planets' orbits. Earth might get drawn into an elliptical path that would cause extreme climate swings, or it might be ejected from the solar system and go hurtling to a frigid fate in deep space.
Or if its it close enough, it would start sucking the Earth into the dark abyss. Things would start being lifted off the land. The Earth's shape would start to distort. And after awhile, as it got closer and closer, humans would also be pulled up, and then, finally, the Earth itself would be swallowed up.
Next up-Solar Flares
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