NASA has recently created a stunning visualization of what would happen to an individual if they were to fall into a supermassive black hole like the one located at the center of our Milky Way galaxy. Using the Discover supercomputer at the NASA Climate Simulation Center, researchers simulated this scenario and produced a video that showcases the observation angle while falling straight through a glowing gas accretion disk surrounding the black hole.
Black holes are some of the densest objects in the universe and possess incredibly strong gravitational fields that distort space-time. The gravity around a black hole is so powerful that objects near it move at almost the speed of light, causing time to appear to slow down. Supermassive black holes, such as the one at the heart of our galaxy, are much larger and less turbulent than their stellar-mass counterparts, resulting in a relatively calm experience when falling into them.
Astrophysicist Jeremy Schnittman from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center created this simulation, which explores what would happen if someone got too close to the supermassive black hole. While you may still experience what is known as “spaghettification” due to gravitational forces stretching your body, falling through the event horizon of a supermassive black hole would be your first point of no return. Just 12.8 seconds after passing through this threshold, you would be destroyed by an overwhelming peak gravitational force that would bring you to what is known as “the singularity,” which is essentially the center of the black hole. This journey from just beyond the event horizon to “the singularity” would occur almost instantaneously – in just 128 kilometers!
The visualization provides an immersive look at what it might be like to fall into a supermassive black hole and how intense gravitational forces can impact space-time. While this scenario may seem daunting or terrifying, it serves as a fascinating reminder of just how powerful and mysterious these celestial objects truly are.
