- #1
michelcolman
- 175
- 2
Gravitational waves travel at the speed of light. So do they also bend around massive objects? If we had an extremely sensitive differential accelerometer, would we "feel" a distant star to be where we saw it? This would seem logical if you consider the curved path of light to really be a straight line in a curved universe.
Also, what happens when a massive object passes the event horizon of a black hole? Nothing can escape from behind the event horizon, including gravity waves, so if we would fly around the black hole to map its gravitational field, the object would seem to remain forever at the event horizon. That's where it sent out its last gravitational wave with an update of its position to adjust space-time curvature around the black hole. And as more objects fell in later, the event horizon would expand so that successive objects would appear stuck at different distances, at least as felt by measuring their gravitational effect on the surrounding space.
So much for a black hole with no hair... OK, it would "really" have no hair, but it would feel like it did when you're outside. Right?
Also, what happens when a massive object passes the event horizon of a black hole? Nothing can escape from behind the event horizon, including gravity waves, so if we would fly around the black hole to map its gravitational field, the object would seem to remain forever at the event horizon. That's where it sent out its last gravitational wave with an update of its position to adjust space-time curvature around the black hole. And as more objects fell in later, the event horizon would expand so that successive objects would appear stuck at different distances, at least as felt by measuring their gravitational effect on the surrounding space.
So much for a black hole with no hair... OK, it would "really" have no hair, but it would feel like it did when you're outside. Right?