# Black Holes to Merge **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 6, 2006, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-holes-to-merge/351622 "2006-04-06T20:36:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-holes-to-merge/351622/1 "2006-04-06T20:36:44Z")
[http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20060406/sc\_space/blackholesboundtomerge](http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20060406/sc_space/blackholesboundtomerge) I hate this – the big super-black holes merge, then they fire the superfluous workers and grab even more business from the smaller black holes. The quantum black holes have already evaporated, and soon the neighborhood black holes will be gone, an you’ll have to go all the way to the Galactic Center to be eaten by one. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-holes-to-merge/351622/2 "2006-04-06T20:39:12Z")
Relax. It won’t happen for several million years. Those anti-trust lawsuits just drag on and on and on. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-holes-to-merge/351622/3 "2006-04-06T20:40:30Z")
I’d like to think that after the merger, the price of gravitational waves will fall since there will be such a surplus. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-holes-to-merge/351622/4 "2006-04-06T20:58:10Z")
> [@Lord Ashtar](#): > > I’d like to think that after the merger, the price of gravitational waves will fall since there will be such a surplus. You wish. Afterwards, we’ll all be paying a heavy price. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_the\_Turtle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_the_turtle/32/2926_2.png) [@Fear\_the\_Turtle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_the_Turtle)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-holes-to-merge/351622/5 "2006-04-06T21:29:51Z")
How come the merger of 2 supermassive BHs yields a “super-supermassive” BH and not a “supermassivemassive” BH? Or even a super-supermassivemassive BH? Or maybe a Super-Extra Massive BH? Who decides these things? ---
**Author:** ![LiveOnAPlane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@LiveOnAPlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiveOnAPlane)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-holes-to-merge/351622/6 "2006-04-06T23:44:04Z")
> [@Fear the Turtle](#): > > … > Who decides these things? My guess? The hamsters. ---
**Author:** ![if6was9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47c2d/32.png) [@if6was9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/if6was9)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-holes-to-merge/351622/7 "2006-04-07T00:01:37Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I hate this – the big super-black holes merge, then they fire the superfluous workers and grab even more business from the smaller black holes. Another case of THE MAN, keepin’ us down. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-holes-to-merge/351622/8 "2006-04-07T00:33:46Z")
The “merger” they are talking about isn’t like a corporate merger. The term is being used like civil union between gay cannibals. From the article: “We now know that they are coupled, but more like the mating of black widow spiders. One of the black holes invariably will eat the other.” ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-holes-to-merge/351622/9 "2006-04-07T00:35:12Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > “We now know that they are coupled, but more like the mating of black widow spiders. One of the black holes invariably will eat the other.” Once you’ve had black hole, you’ll never go back. ---
**Author:** ![Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/regallag_the_axe/32/445_2.png) [@Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Regallag_The_Axe)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-holes-to-merge/351622/10 "2006-04-07T00:49:13Z")
Heh. One of the ads is: Dark Matter Dark Matter for sale. aff Check out the deals now! It’s actually just a generic ebay ad, but it’s still funny! ---
**Author:** ![Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spatial_Rift_47)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-holes-to-merge/351622/11 "2006-04-07T01:41:49Z")
Did someone say more spaghetti? I LOVE spaghetti! ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-holes-to-merge/351622/12 "2006-04-07T02:17:14Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > The “merger” they are talking about isn’t like a corporate merger. The term is being used like civil union between gay cannibals. > > From the article: > > “We now know that they are coupled, but more like the mating of black widow spiders. One of the black holes invariably will eat the other.” You see what happens when you allow gay marriage? Now we have _cannibalistic_ gay marriage. Beware the Slippery Slope. ---
**Author:** ![Nancarrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c37758/32.png) [@Nancarrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nancarrow)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-holes-to-merge/351622/13 "2006-04-07T09:52:41Z")
Yeah, why the hell hasn’t your government passed a constitutional amendment to prevent this sort of thing yet? (And when are we going to repeal the second law of thermodynamics?) ---
**Author:** ![Angua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8baadc/32.png) [@Angua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angua)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-holes-to-merge/351622/14 "2006-04-07T09:59:39Z")
Just think what the future feeding frenzies of this thing could be like. A slight aside – I’ve been at an astronomy conference this week – its bad when we start making penis and breast jokes involving radio astronomy, isn’t it?