Into the Dark
What black holes really are, and four different ways astronomers detect objects that give off no light.
Grades 7-12About 15 minutes of narrated flight, plus discussion stops8 stops
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What students will see and do
Students visit Cygnus X-1, the nearby Gaia black holes, the center of the Milky Way, Andromeda, M87 and the giant quasar TON 618, learning about escape velocity, event horizons, the first black hole images and gravitational waves.
Learning objectives
- Define a black hole using escape velocity and the event horizon
- Describe how black holes are detected (X-rays, orbiting stars, imaging, gravitational waves)
- Compare stellar-mass and supermassive black holes
- Correct the misconception that black holes suck in everything around them
NGSS connections
| MS-ESS1-2 | Gravity holds galaxies together and governs orbits around black holes. |
|---|---|
| HS-PS2-4 | Newton's law of gravitation: an object's pull depends on mass and distance, not size. |
| HS-ESS1-1 (extension) | Massive stars end their lives as neutron stars or black holes. |
| DCI ESS1.A / PS2.B | The Universe and Its Stars; Types of Interactions. |
Stops on this journey
- Cygnus X-1: the first black hole
- What is a black hole? (discussion stop)
- Gaia BH3
- Falling toward the center
- Sagittarius A star (discussion stop)
- M87 star, the first image
- A neighbor's black hole
- TON 618
Vocabulary
- black hole
- event horizon
- escape velocity
- accretion disk
- supermassive
- quasar
- gravitational waves
- spaghettification