Is It Possible To Visit A Black Hole? New Video Explains

KEY POINTS

Video explains the possibility of visiting a black hole
The human body will go through spaghettification if it falls into a black hole
There is a specific region where humans can safely observe a black hole

A new video explains if it would be possible for humans to visit a black hole without getting sucked in. Although this seems like a deadly journey, the video noted that it is hypothetically possible to travel to a black hole from a relatively safe distance.

Black holes are known for their immense gravitational pull, which allows them to devour anything that gets near them. As noted by scientists, humans would go through a painful process known as spaghettification if they fell into a black hole. This occurs as soon as the body goes through a black hole. Due to the powerful gravitational forces, the body will continue to stretch until it becomes one continuous stream of matter.

But according to a new video released by the YouTube channel What If, it is still possible to visit a black hole without getting sucked in. Of course, the video tackles a hypothetical situation only and does not go into detail regarding the type of technology needed to travel thousands of light-years just to visit a black hole.

As stated in the video, the closest point humans can travel to in order to observe a black hole is just outside its event horizon, a boundary beyond which observers cannot be affected. The distance between this region and the singularity at the black hole’s center is known as Schwarzschild radius, which was named after the German physicist and astronomer Karl Schwarzschild.

According to the What If video, humans can safely visit and observe a black hole as long as they’re about two to three times the Schwarzschild radius from the massive cosmic object.

“The Schwarzschild radius defines the size of a black hole’s event horizon, a boundary beyond which you wouldn’t be affected by a black hole, as long as you stay on the opposite side of it,” the video stated.

“The closest you could get to a black hole, without being sucked in, would be two times the Schwarzschild radius,” the video added. “But if you’re looking to observe from a stable orbit, you’d better stay at a distance of three times the Schwarzschild radius.”