Q&A: Black Holes

Q:
I have read that the Chandra X-Ray Observatory has detected a powerful black hole in our galaxy and that it is pulling Earth, the Sun and our entire solar sytem toward it at more than a million miles per hour. Is this true?

A:
Not to worry. We are not in any danger from any known black holes. The gravity of a black holes falls off inversely as the square of the distance, so the Sun is still far and away the most important gravitational influence on Earth. We should continue to orbit the Sun for the foreseeable future.