The observation station orbiting the black hole is pulled off course by the unexpected passage of a large mass and will now recede unless retrieved. Where did the large mass come from? Temporary concentrations of plasma frequently form in the accretion disc, possibly caused by shock-wave resonance effects. These concentrations may create plasmoids in the huge flares reaching far beyond the disc. Some such plasmoids, temporarily held together by self-generated magnetism, might have the mass of a large asteroid and one such mass could have passed near the station. The characters can now postulate such a phenomenon although they had been unable to predict it. Poul Anderson knew enough physics to enable him to anticipate many unpredictable contingencies.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
It makes me wonder, will some of the things Anderson speculated about, like these plasmoids, turn out to be true once we seriously get off this rock and start looking? Or will even stranger phenomena he never thought of be found?
I'm a slow reader, I've only gotten as far as Chapter 21 of STARFARERS, the revised version of "Ghetto." Shows us a convincingly depicted decadence, in the dying civilization ruling Earth at that time. And how it tragically affected two persons.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Even stranger. We are adapted to perceive macroscopic objects at sub-relativistic velocities. Therefore, everything else is beyond our imaginations.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
That is almost certainly correct! No matter how imaginative some of us are, like Poul Anderson, there are going to be phenomena none of us would have thought of. Or could have thought of.
Ad astra! Sean
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