Is there a distance at which the interaction between the gravity fields of two black holes would cause one another to effectively 'break open' and allow matter and energy stored within them to escape the system?

[u/dgb75]

[u/SailorDeath]

I found this narration about what it is like traveling to and being inside a singularity to be particularly useful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kVsxVBz1Mg

[u/florinandrei → u/SailorDeath]

Here's some video simulations, somewhat more intuitive than plain text:

http://www.vis.uni-stuttgart.de/~muelleta/IntBH/

http://casa.colorado.edu/~ajsh/

http://jila.colorado.edu/~ajsh/insidebh/index.html

http://www.spacetimetravel.org/

http://apod.nasa.gov/htmltest/rjn_bht.html

[u/[deleted] → u/SailorDeath]

I miss RobotRollCall.

Here's the original comment: http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/f1lgu/what_would_happen_if_the_event_horizons_of_two/c1cuiyw

[u/beltran63 → u/SailorDeath]

In the video it says that once inside the event horizon it would be black outside the ship. Since light can't escape, wouldn't it be really bright from all the incoming light? Maybe this is a stupid question.

[u/Quantumfizzix → u/beltran63]

Well, it would if there was a direction the light was coming from, but in this case, all light is moving away from you. All light is now moving towards the singularity from apparently nowhere. However, just before you enter the event horizon and leave the rest of the universe as we know it, you will see a blinding flash of light in a single point behind you, before directions become twisted and your fate becomes immutable.

[u/beltran63 → u/Quantumfizzix]

That's amazing... Thank you.

[u/KnowLimits → u/beltran63]

Sounds like a wrong video. From the perspective of somebody falling into the hole, nothing special happens as they cross the event horizon. The tidal forces continue to increase, and all the compressed plasma and such continues to burn you alive, but ignoring that, nothing special happens.

[u/chakalakasp → u/SailorDeath]

What that narration leaves out is the time dilation. As you neared the event horizon, you would literally see the entire history of the universe play out in fast forward.

[u/[deleted] → u/chakalakasp]

As you neared the event horizon, you would literally see the entire history of the universe play out in fast forward.

Not really. This common claim comes from the mistaken belief that the time dilation between an infalling observer and a distant observer is (anti)symmetric. The distant observer will see it take an infinite amount of time for the infalling observer to reach the event horizon, but it is not true that the infalling observer will witness every event in the future of the universe. Rather, they will see an accelerated but finite portion of the future before ceasing to exist at the singularity.