BH M87: Beyond the Gates of Hell

Abstract

The supermassive black hole located in the galaxy M87 (BH M87) is four times larger than our solar system. If it is spherically symmetric, then a capsule free falling from a distance of 1 light year would cross BHM87’s event horizon within some tens of years. Continuing that journey, any unfortunate astronomer traveling within the capsule would remain alive for a few further tens of hours; if the capsule were equipped with a powerful engine and could slow down, their lifetime inside the horizon beyond “the gates of Hell”would be slightly extended. How is this so?What are the other properties of the interior of BH M87? Maintaining the assumption of spherical symmetry of the exterior of BH M87, we briefly discuss some simple but intriguing properties of its interior, a region that turns out to be highly anisotropic, both expanding and contracting at the same time.