07/19/2025
Could time freeze near a black hole while the rest of the universe keeps moving?
Yes, time really can appear to freeze near a black hole, and the 2014 movie Interstellar brilliantly illustrated this with science grounded in Einstein’s theory of general relativity.
In the film, the crew visits Miller’s planet, which orbits extremely close to a supermassive black hole named Gargantua. Because of the immense gravity, time moves much slower on the planet than it does farther away.
One hour on Miller’s planet equals seven years back on Earth. When the characters return to their ship, decades have passed for someone who stayed behind.
This is called gravitational time dilation. The stronger the gravity, the slower time passes relative to areas with weaker gravity.
From the outside universe, it might seem like time near the black hole is “frozen,” but for someone close to it, time feels normal, they just wouldn’t realize they’re aging more slowly than the rest of the cosmos.
So, yes, time near a black hole can practically stand still, while the universe outside rushes on. It’s not science fiction, it’s real physics.
