THS Earth/Space Science

What would travelling into a black hole be like? Today’s lesson had us focusing on the implications of the massive black hole at the center of our Milky Way galaxy. We watched about 35 minutes of the great NOVA presentation Monster of the Milky Way. Since it is a PBS presentation, they have offered up free video clips online – you can view each chapter in its entirety on PBS’ Monster of the Milky Way: Watch Online page (note: We watched Chapters 1-4 and part of 5 in class).

As noted in one description of the program, NOVA has done a superb job of explaining the seemingly inexplicable:

If ever there was “a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma”—Winston Churchill’s inimitable phrase—it is a black hole. In this spirited exchange, one man struggles to explain these deeply weird outer space entities while his interlocutor struggles just as hard to understand them.

Homework: Your detailed responses to the following questions are due at the beginning of class on Monday (01/22). Remember, full detail means more than just the introductory-level definitions that were made available in class. What other information were you able to gather from the video? It is virtually impossible to put too much detail into your discussion question responses!

1. What is a black hole?
2. What would happen to you if you travelled into a black hole?

Next up: The stellar life cycle projects will be our objective for Monday and Tuesday. Remember the list of options we discussed: you can write a children’s book, create an educational video, construct a poster or PowerPoint, or you can write an autobiography of a star. We will begin these projects next week and they’ll be due the following week. Eventually we’ll continue our journey into our solar system by studying our sun. We will continue inward, focusing next on planets and moons before moving on to the Earth more specifically in our Geology unit beginning in Feburary.