First... What is this?

• This is a Black Hole at the center of the M87 galaxy, which lies some 55 million light-years away from Earth.

• This photo was taken in 2019, and taken again through a filter this year. The filter revealed lines of magnetic energy flowing inward through the spiral.

• This is the first true "picture" of a Black Hole.

Spaghettification 🍝

• Black Holes shred everything that comes near them. At Right is an animation of what it may look like.

• Things are pulled apart one atom at a time in a loooooong string, like a pile of spaghetti.

• But where does this stuff go?

_{Take a look at the "anatomy" of a Black Hole}

Ready for a learning check?

Feel free to go back and review!

What's Space-Time?

• Space-time is a mathematical model that joins space and time into a single four-dimensional continuum.

• Wherever matter exists, it bends the geometry of spacetime. This results in a curved shape of space-time which can be understood as gravity.

Visualizing space-time distortions.

Warping Space-Time

• Wherever matter exists, it bends the geometry of spacetime. This results in a curved shape of space-time which can be understood as gravity.

• Larger masses cause greater distortions of space-time.

• As distance away from these curves increases, their gravitational effect decreases.

The "Event Horizon"

• This is the point of no return.

• The gravitational pull is so strong that light particles are "forced" to continue moving into the center.

• At right is a view looking down from above a Black Hole.

• The "fabric" is being stretched to a point where objects cannot be retrieved - the Singularity.

Ready for a learning check?

Feel free to go back and review!

If you're looking for a movie to watch over break...

• Check out Interstellar !

• From the creator of the "Dark Knight" movies.

• Has a relatively accurate depiction of space-time and Black Holes, including what "happens" when one enters a Black Hole.