Neil deGrasse Tyson caught our attention recently when the Discovery Channel aired a special during its “Armageddon Week” about the most likely ways the world could end. Fun stuff like a doomsday asteroid, global warming, super volcano, black hole, nuclear war and robots inheriting the Earth made the list. Tyson was one of the most engaging speakers on the program and he had us on the edge of our seats (but holding tight with a firm grip) as he described how we’d be sucked into the sky, limb by limb, if a black hole ever got too close. We should note this scenario terrified us the most since Earth, even our entire solar system, would surrender to the gravitational pull as well and no longer exist. While the other end times possibilities are no less encouraging, at least there would be a planet around even if it took thousands of years to be inhabitable again. Tyson comes to the Y on Thursday with Robert Krulwich to discuss Death by Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandaries. Get a seat, glue not required.
