If a supermassive black hole were to devour our solar system, it is highly likely that we would not be aware of it in advance. Supermassive black holes are incredibly massive objects located at the centers of galaxies, including our own Milky Way galaxy. They have such strong gravitational pull that once an object, such as a star or a solar system, gets too close to the event horizon (the boundary of a black hole), it would be pulled in and ultimately consumed.
Here are a few reasons why we wouldn't know it in advance:
Limited Observational Capability: Detecting a black hole's gravitational influence on our solar system would require advanced and precise measurements. However, current astronomical techniques and instruments may not be capable of directly observing such a specific gravitational interaction in real time.
Speed of Information: The speed at which information travels is limited by the speed of light. If a black hole were to engulf our solar system, the gravitational effects would propagate at the speed of light. Therefore, we would only become aware of the black hole's presence when its gravitational influence reached us, which would take a significant amount of time depending on the distance between us and the black hole.
Lack of Warning Signals: Unlike other catastrophic events in space, such as the explosion of a nearby supernova or a gamma-ray burst, which can emit intense bursts of radiation, a black hole devouring our solar system would not produce any distinctive warning signals that we could detect in advance.
It is important to note that the likelihood of a supermassive black hole directly engulfing our solar system is extremely low. While black holes can interact with and influence their surroundings, the distances between stars and solar systems are vast, making direct encounters relatively rare. Therefore, the chances of our solar system being consumed by a supermassive black hole are exceedingly slim.