Famed scientist Neil deGrasse Tyson made a startling confession earlier this week, saying that if he could choose his own death, he would hope to get sucked into a black hole. Much of the space phenomenon remains a mystery to scientists, and Tyson expressed his hope that falling into one would provide some answers for physicists back on Earth.
As was reported by The Express , Tyson made the comments during his podcast. The topic came up as he and his guest discussed theories for how the world would end. The famed scientist explained that the topic had already been the focus of much discussion following the discovery that the universe was expanding at an accelerating rate.
“We made more observations and we showed there’s not enough gravity to halt that expansion,” Tyson explained.
As a result, he described the extraterrestrial world as becoming more and more spaced out to the point where matter was so dispersed that space was sparse and “diluted.”
“It dissipates and the temperature drops and never comes back,” he added.
“Then the stars will burn out one-by-one, as the sky goes dark, thus the universe ends, not in fire, but ice — which might be a good way to go,” he added.
Fortunately, the end of the universe is still millions of years away. Human life is far shorter — and Tyson confessed that a number of fans had shockingly asked him about his preferred way to die, which had given him time to think about his demise.
“Launch me into a black hole,” Tyson stated.
That said, the reality of falling into the mysterious phenomenon would be very different than what science fiction books or movies like Interstellar would suggest. One of the most famous aspects is that the body would quickly get stretched apart in a process known as “spaghettification.”
This happens because the force of gravity is dependent on distance from the center of gravity. Assuming a body goes in feet first, the gravitational force at the toes would be so much larger than at the head that it would rip a body in half.
“I would report back until I no longer can and be the first human to be spaghettified, I would totally go that way,” Tyson said.
He also acknowledged that it would not be the most comfortable way to go.
“It would hurt, but it would be worth it,” he finished. “I want my death to have some value to science.”
Meanwhile, in other space-related news, Harvard researchers recently hypothesized another amazing aspect of black holes. As was previously reported by The Inquisitr , the scientists believe that they contain “movies” of the history of space within their rings due to the fact that light remains trapped in their orbits.