Escape from a Black Hole ~ at Runboard.com

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Escape from a Black Hole

Reythia
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Registered: 11-2005
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Escape from a Black Hole

Here's an interesting astronomy article:

Hyperfast Star Proven to be Alien

Basically, it's about a star from the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) which is believed to have been shot out of the Cloud at unusually high velocity. The cause of this super speed is expected to be a very close pass by a (suspected) black hole at the center of the LMC.

I've know about the theory for a while (the math is the same as we use to calculate satellite orbits) but this article reminded me and I just couldn't help but think what a neat scifi topic it would make. I mean, imagine that this star has either (somehow) held onto its planet(s) or (somewhat more likely) snatched new ones from another star it passed. Now imagine that life emerged on one of those planets and evolved to approximately our level of science and technology. What strange things they would discover!

First off, things would look very different depending which direction you observed, thanks to noteable red- and blue-shifting effects.

Also, would you assume that MOST stars and planets moved as quickly as you did, or that most stars are located far, far away from all others?

What kinds of myths, legends, and pseudoscience would exist to explain your star's velocity and alone-ness? What scientific theories would there be concerning the greater density and slower velocity of the nearby galaxies like the LMC and Milky Way?

Anyhow, it just brought thoughts to mind, so I thought I'd share them. If anyone wants to use the idea as stimulus for a story, go ahead -- I'm not going to. emoticon