From: gdpusch@NO.xnet.SPAM.com   
      
   "Joseph Devaney"  writes:   
      
   > from the little research that I have done and looked over about   
   > blackholes, I is to my understand that the bigger the body, the larger   
   > the graviational pull would be to pull in other objects.   
      
   Replace "bigger" with "more massive," and you'll be more or less correct.   
      
      
   > my question stems to this.  is it possible for 2 (or more) blackholes to   
   > exist withn a close proximity.   
      
   Sure, for a little while, as long as their event horizons don't get close   
   enough to each other to merge. Once their event horizons merge, you get a   
   single black hole with a horizon areas at _least_ as large as the combined   
   areas of the two black holes, and a =LOT= of gravitational radiation !!!   
      
      
   > the gravitational collapse of a star or even greater, a galaxy does cause   
   > a blackhole, unless I am mistaken...   
      
   I am sorry, but I cannot parse that sentence. Yes, a big enough star can   
   collapse to become a black hole, most galactic cores appear to contain   
   really, REALLY big black holes with masses of millions or even BILLIONS   
   of stars, and at least one galaxy appears to contain two black holes   
   spiraling in toward each other that should collide and merge in about   
   10 million years, relative to our time. What's your point ???   
      
      
   > but, say it were to happen in close proximity of another star?  say 2   
   > stars begin a gravitational collapse at the same time?   
      
   It is false _Star Drek_(tm) pseudo-physics that a star's gravity somehow   
   gets magically "stronger" when it collapses. If the Sun were somehow   
   magically collapsed to form a black hole without loss of mass, the Sun's   
   gravitational field strength at any give point outside its original surface,   
   which is directly proportional to its mass and inversely proportional to   
   the distance from its center squared, would not change even one little bit.   
      
      
   > will one star more rapidly collapase, thus "sucking" the other star into   
   > its force?  or do they for lack of a better term, happily co-exist?   
      
   No, the giant sucking sound you hear on _Star Drek_(tm) when a   
   star collapses is the air in the studio rushing in to fill the   
   vacuum represented by the complete and utter scientific ignorance   
   of the script-writers.   
      
      
   > can someone explain to me in the most detail possible how they can or   
   > cannot exist in the same proximity?   
      
   The gravitational field of an object depends only on its total mass and the   
   distance you are for it, not its physical state. It doesn't matter whether   
   a one solar-mass object is a star or a black hole; it exerts _EXACTLY- the   
   same gravitational force at a given radius.   
      
      
   -- Gordon D. Pusch   
      
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