Event Horizon Redshift

[theend3r]

If I understand the concept correctly, an outside observer looking at an object swallowed by a black hole would see it slow down and never quite pass the event horizon, although the image of the object would become more and more redshifted as time passes.

Now imagine a scenario where a star gets pulled in a black hole. What would we see? If the above is true we would see it just hover near the black hole getting more red at first and then fading out of view as the spectrum of this image gets out of our visible spectrum (IR machines would still see it). Finally the star "afterimage" would output just a "nearly straight" light with close to 0 frequency/infinite wavelength (sorry for those terms).

The question is would we really see the star just disappear like a ghost? And if so how long would it approximately take? If this process takes a long time or if I'm completely wrong and nothing like that happens would a black hole lucky enough to meet a few stars appear like the lot of them are just moving together, sitting each next to each other? Is that what's happening in the galactic core?

[cicatrix]

You'll see it red-shifted and its luminosity will be weaker and weaker closing to zero.

Then, it will disappear. I may be wrong, but as soon as its core passes through the event horizon, you'll see residual radiation from its center (where fusion reactions are taking place) and then, as the last escaping photon reaches you you would see nothing.

[monstah]

It won't be a whole star, tho, since it would probably be torn apart by tidal forces and some of the remains would be accelerated and ejected in polar jets long before you see it near the horizon.

What you'd see then is a ring of remaining gas swirling around the black hole, slowly redshifting its way in. Should be cool.

edit - as a side note, that's the kind of email I'd like to send Neil Tyson's Startalk Radio someday: "instead of answering me a question, just describe cosmic event X in this lovely* barytone voice and egregious hollywoodian description only you can do"

edit2 - (*)come on filter, that NOT obscene language

Edited November 28, 2014 by monstah