Quote (TheCrimson @ Oct 13 2014 11:33am)
Technically if we found a black hole, and sent a probe to research it, as long as it did not go past the event horizon it shouldn't be harmed.. if we were to try and study one with probes, it would probably be wise to send two, one to go beyond the event horizon and one to stay outside of it. Once a particle goes beyond the event horizon, it cannot come back and no information may be gained by anything that occurs inside. A distant observer would not be able to view/receive any information of any changes that occur within the event horizon. Also, due to the gravitational time dilation caused by the black hole, a distant observer would notice that as an object gets closer to the event horizon it slows down, seeming to take an infinite amount of time to reach the black hole. Every process on the object or particle slows down as well. As for the probe being pulled into the black hole, it crosses the event horizon after a finite amount of time without noticing any changes to the space-time continuum. Not only that, but the object being pulled in cannot determine exactly when it crosses the event horizon. Once it crosses, no information can be gained and we would never know what happened to the probe or ever receive a report from it.
If a black hole were ever found, I do not think that we would be able to gain any information about it other than the mass, size, and angular momentum. We can obtain all of this information without sending a probe in, and if we sent a probe in, we would never know what happens to it. We cannot see past the event horizon as a distant observer, and no particles may leave the event horizon, therefor sending a probe at all would be pointless if what we think we know is true.
I still think sending two probes would be smart, because obviously we really don't know anything about black holes since we don't even know if they exist. I'm thinking that the article in the op is true simply because the idea that a black hole radiates heat contradicts the idea that no particles may leave the event horizon. But, like I said, we've never had physical evidence that one even exists, so who knows.
I agree time dialation screw everything up