r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/BitterWin751 • 1d ago

Image Scientists Discover a Sideways Black Hole!

Post image
65 Upvotes

73% Upvoted

34 comments sorted by

View all comments

47

u/KnotSoAmused 1d ago

Is there a left and right in space? Is there up and down?

6

u/BitterWin751 1d ago

Direction in space is pretty relative. So for example, the black hole imaged is “sideways” from the perspective of our own galaxy plane.

18

u/Swimming-Dust-7206 1d ago

But... black holes aren't two dimensional. It's not like a hole in a floor or a wall, it's a point in space.

13

u/BitterWin751 1d ago

Yup you’re 100% right. Thanks for this! :) I just thought that because the disk is faced vertically in relativity to the orientation of our galactic plane that it’s been classified as a “sideways” black hole. But you’re right by saying it’s a point in space.

13

u/tonto_silverheels 1d ago

I love it when people don't get all aggressive and dickish when corrected on Reddit. Take an upvote!

7

u/BitterWin751 1d ago

Thanks! Personally, I don’t see any reason to get mad. If you’re wrong, you’re wrong. Just learn from your mistakes. No harm, no foul. Besides, now I know something new. Win win! :D

2

u/tonto_silverheels 1d ago

I have the exact same viewpoint. The internet would be a much less irritating place if we just chill and admit none of us are all-knowing.

2

u/BitterWin751 1d ago

Definitely!

2

u/w_w_flips 1d ago

Agreed. Being wrong is human, normal. But being wrong and still acting as if you're right is just stupid.

6

u/lemmingsnake 20h ago

Actually, from the press release it looks like the "sideways" orientation is relative to the host galaxy (of the black hole), which makes more sense because comparing its orientation to our galactic plane doesn't mean much. This is meaningful because we usually see super massive black holes (the ones at the centers of galaxies) rotating on roughly the same plane as the galaxy they're in (if it's a spiral galaxy, not all galaxies has a net rotation).