From: Zardoz ®	04/11/2001 19:33:55
Subject: re: COSMOLOGY FAQ	post id: 484061
If something bigger than a black hole is being pulled towards it what will happen? From: Chris (Avatar) The size of a black hole is the radius of the event horizon - the sphere which marks the point of no return. So a black hole does have a finite size. Lots of things may be larger (in both terms of mass and size) than a black hole. For example, imagine a binary star system called Lynsey Alpha (LA) and Lynsey Beta (LB). LA is slightly larger star, and so it will evolve quicker than LB. This means LA will have exhausted all its nuclear fuel while LB is still merrily burning away. LA is big enough to supernova, which it does - becoming for a short time the brightest object in the galaxy. It throws off a lot of its mass in the explosion and alters the orbit of LB. LA collapses to become a black hole, but it is now smaller and has less mass than LB. LB's orbit has changed sufficiently that it will eventually impact black hole LA. What happens?? The collision between a black hole and a supermassive star would be a spectacular event. If the hole and the star are of similar masses (as in this case) it is doubtful that LB would survive the collision, which may result in a type two supernova. The black hole would also be affected by the collision, and will retain its structure provided that it can maintain enough mass within its fluctuating event horizon.