San Antonio College Library

"In the past, they were recognized as the most destructive force in nature. Now, following a cascade of astonishing discoveries, supermassive black holes have undergone a dramatic shift in paradigm. Astronomers are finding out that these objects may have been critical to the formation of structure in the early universe, spawning bursts of star formation, planets, and even life itself. They may have contributed as much as half of all the radiation...

The author introduces the physics of black holes, including Fullerene space tunnels and time dilation. Also included are codes that allow you to create black holes on your own computer.

Richly illustrated with the images from observatories on the ground and in space, and computer simulations, this book shows how black holes were discovered, and discusses our current understanding of their role in cosmic evolution. This second edition covers new discoveries made in the past decade, including definitive proof of a black hole at the center of the Milky Way, evidence that the expansion of the Universe is accelerating, and the new appreciation...

"General relativity flows from Einstein's field equations, which relate the mass and pressure in a region of spacetime to the "warping" of spacetime across that region. The field equations reveal how this warping is experienced by any observer, whether she is moving, accelerating, rotating, stretching, twisting, or tumbling. The field equations are wonderfully general. But this generality has a price: mathematical sophistication. The field equations...

David Harland describes how our understanding of the Universe has developed from the discovery that the Universe is expanding, to the idea that all matter originated in a hot, Big Bang, then explains the many subtle improvements to the basic theory that have been necessary to understand how the very smallest particles and earliest structures (the 'microscale') in the Universe evolved to produce the Universe as it is now (the 'macroscale'). The author...

Black holes have mystified physicists for decades, but with the help of quantum mechanics, we are beginning to make serious progress in understanding these strange objects. This week on Space Time, Matt dives deeper into the physical process of creating a black hole, and what that can tell us about how black holes behave.

Black holes are a constant source of fascination to many due to their mysterious nature. This Very Short Introduction addresses a variety of questions, including what a black hole actually is, how they are characterized and discovered, and what would happen if you came too close to one.--Publisher information.

In the last episode Matt discussed how the Penrose Diagram enabled you to map how black holes affect Space Time. In this episode you can use that knowledge to stop an all-too-real threat to our planet. Aliens are trying to destroy the Earth by creating a Kugelblitz under our feet. Will you use a Dyson Sphere to stop them or a satellite based deflector array? Choose wisely and save humanity.

Primordial black holes may be lurking throughout our universe. How large are they, how many are out there and what would happen if they moved through our solar system?