While traveling the galaxy in a spacecraft,you and a colleague set out to investigate the black hole at the center of our galaxy.Your colleague hops aboard an escape pod and drops into a circular orbit around the black hole,maintaining a distance of 1 AU,while you remain much farther away in the spacecraft.After doing some experiments to measure the strength of gravity,your colleague signals his/her results back to you using a green laser.What would you see?

Question

While traveling the galaxy in a spacecraft,you and a colleague set out to investigate the  black hole at the center of our galaxy.Your colleague hops aboard an escape pod and drops into a circular orbit around the black hole,maintaining a distance of 1 AU,while you remain much farther away in the spacecraft.After doing some experiments to measure the strength of gravity,your colleague signals his/her results back to you using a green laser.What would you see?

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Since the colleague is maintaining a circular orbit at a safe distance of 1 AU from the black hole, they have not crossed the event horizon where the gravitational pull is too strong for anything to escape, including light. Therefore, their signals would be able to reach the spacecraft and be seen by the person conducting experiments. The signal would not be shifted to a redder wavelength or disappear completely.

While Traveling the Galaxy in a Spacecraft,you and a Colleague