Being Thankful - and Pesky Black Holes (not necessarily related)

 By Robin Weaver

When I saw the theme for this month’s blog, my first thought was: I’m “thankful” it’s not November already. This year has passed way too quickly, so fast I’m still searching for my Easter eggs.  They say time goes faster when you get older—not that I’m old, no matter what the driver’s license says—but I’m going to blame the speed-up on black hole collisions.

I’m guessing you think I’ve completely lost my mind, but you’d be wrong—the tense is wrong. Anyway, before you dismiss this kooky idea completely, there’s some science behind my idea. Colliding Black holes produce gravitational waves, and researchers have found actual evidence these waves cause ripples in space-time. This concept was first predicted by Al Einstein in 1916. (And don’t worry, I promise not to go totally science geek). Gravitational waves twist and warp space-time. Similar to the ripples created when you drop a pebble into a pool of water.

Only gravitational waves are among the most powerful things in the universe. Just to put this collision in perspective, the black hole in our Milky Way galaxy is 4.1 million times the mass of the sun. The one at the heart of Andromeda, our neighboring galaxy is believed to be as much as 230 million times the mass of our Old Sol. Can you even comprehend the energy generated by two of these things duking it out?

I’m not making this stuff up.  It took a hundred years, but in 2015, LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) was the first experiment to directly detect gravitational waves. The waves were observed when two black holes circled each other at mind-bending speeds and collided. A permanent distortion of space-time occurred.

Don’t tell me that couldn’t affect time as we know it. Especially since I first notice the year passing faster in 2015. Another was announced in 2017 and I swear time sped up again. Coincidence? I think not.

Okay, I’m probably making the facts fit my hypothesis, but I am an author. Isn’t that what we’re supposed to do? Besides, I could be right. Of course, Elvis could still be alive and the Loche Ness monster might be a real swan that accidentally ingested  steroids the Russian Olympians dumped in the lake.

Or possibly, because the universe is expanding at an accelerating rate, time must speed up as well. Probably not.

So back to THANKFUL. In addition to being grateful for all the important things in my life—loved ones, great friends, good health, coffee, salted caramel, and shoes—I’m also thankful for Google. How else could I research these quasi-facts. 

And thank you for reading this entire blog. 😊 

Merry Christmas---it’ll be here before we know it.