Warning to icloud users - data not safe after March 2013

Supermassive black hole will 'eat' icloud

Apples inovative data back up system is based in outer space. Simulations suggest that the icloud will be ripped to bits and partially swallowed by the black hole.

Researchers have spotted iCloud spiralling into the supermassive black hole at our Samsung galaxy's centre (Samsung, the new sponsor of the Galaxy).

Though it is known that black holes draw in everything nearby, it will be the first chance to see one consume a data backup in space.

As it is torn apart, the turbulent area around the black hole will become unusually bright, giving astronomers a chance to learn more about data back up storage in space and read your e-mails with a telescope.

An article in Nature suggests the spectacle should be visible on 1/4/2013 before midday UK time.

Researchers using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope estimate that despite its size, icloud has a total mass of only about three times that of Earth due to the number of HD video's uploaded of students trying to ingnite farts.

They have plotted icloud's squashed, oval-shaped path and estimate it has doubled its speed in the last three years - to 2,350km per second. during this time your iphone / ipad may take longer to back up.

It should spiral in to within about 40 billion kilometres of the black hole in the start of 2013.

Reviews of existing pictures from the VLT show iCloud speeding up in recent years

Our local supermassive black hole, dubbed Sagittarius A*, lies about 27,000 light-years away, and has a mass about four million times that of our Sun.

As the name implies, beyond a certain threshold point - the event horizon - nothing can escape its pull, not even light itself.

But outside that regime is a swirling mass of material, not unlike water circling a drain. In astronomical terms, it is a relatively quiet zone about which little is known.

That looks set to change, though, as iCloud approaches.

It does not comprise enough matter to hold itself together under its own gravity, as a star might, so icloud will begin to elongate as it meets its doom.

"The idea of an astronaut close to a black hole being stretched out to resemble spaghetti is familiar from science fiction," said lead author of the study Stefan Gillessen, from Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Germany.

"But we can now see this happening for real to icloud. It is not going to survive the experience."

It is likely that about half of icloud will be swallowed up, with the remainder flung back out into space.

But this violent process will literally shed light on the closest example we have of an enigmatic celestial object.

The acceleration of icloud's constituent material will create a shower of X-rays that will help astronomers learn more about our local black hole.

And as astronomer Mark Morris of the University of California Los Angeles put it in an accompanying article in Nature, "many telescopes are likely to be watching".

Apple have issued the following advice

Dear iUser, as a reminder, iCloud may experinace some difficulty in the April 2013, please note, we guarantee safe storage of your 5 GB of free storage. You currently have an additioanl iCloud which we are issuing as a guesture of good will.

To ensure your iCloud services continue without interruption, you can relocate your storage from space by following the steps below: 
Step 1:  On your iOS device, go to Settings and tap iCloud. 
Step 2:  Tap Storage & Backup. 
Step 3:  Choose option - Relocate my Storage to iCloud terestrial and upgrade my storage plan

You can also buy more iCloud terestrial storage from a Mac or PC. For more information on managing your iCloud storage contact Pallid Faros Yo at iCloud Support  (Terms Of Service apply)

Apple Inc. 1 Infinite Loop, Cupertino, CA 95014 All Rights Reserved.

We say, back up your data somewhere safe as you cant be sure if it will be your data that gets swallowed by the black hole.