GLAST Black Hole Resource Area

PBS/NOVA Television Show: Monster of the Milky Way
Premiered October 31, 2006

The Milky Way's light distorted at the event horizon of a black hole.

Developed by Thomas Lucas Productions, this 1- hour show for PBS/NOVA entitled "Monster of the Milky Way" takes a sweeping look at the many lives of black holes. From studies of the supermassive black hole in the center of our Milky Way Galaxy to the birth of black holes in gamma-ray bursts and their seeming ubiquity in the universe, NASA and NSF funds provided support for this exciting hour of high-definition television. Thomas Lucas Productions has extensive experience in developing astronomy shows for public television: they produced Mysteries of Deep Space (which featured the Hubble Space Telescope), Voyage to the Milky Way, and the NSF-co-sponsored documentary entitled Runaway Universe (which is about dark energy and the cosmological constant).

DMNS Planetarium Show: Black Holes: The Other Side Of Infinity
Now Playing...

This large format planetarium show, "Black Holes: The Other Side Of Infinity" premiered in January 2006 at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science (DMNS) The program was produced at DMNS with Tom Lucas and the NASA E/PO Group. Dr. Lynn Cominsky served as Science Director, and Dr. Philip Plait was the Science Consultant. An accompanying set of classroom exercises has been developed at DMNS for educators to use when their classes see the planetarium show.

+Go here to find out more about the showing of the Black Hole planetarium show at DMNS

Black Holes FAQ Sheet: From Here to Infinity

English Version!

Full Color Version

Printable Black and White Version (with color pictures)

Spanish Version!

Full Color Version
Full Color Version (disability accessible)

Printable Black and White Version (with color pictures)

Black Holes Educator Workshop: From Here to Infinity

The SSU group, in collaboration with DMNS, has created an educators' workshop based on the program, complete with an educators' guide with well-tested activities from different Astrophysics division missions to teach the basic concepts outlined in the planetarium program.

Download the Draft Guide (PDF)

FTP the full CD with Power Point Presentations and educator guide.

Guide Presentations:
Section 1 - The Formation of Black Holes Presentation
Section 2 - The gravity of the situation (around black holes) Presentation
Section 3 - Travel Inside the Black Hole at the Center of the Milky Way Presentation
Section 4 - The Search for Black Holes

• Black hole science web sites
  The following websites have excellent scientific descriptions of black holes, designed for curious minds of all ages.
  
  • For young readers
    • http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/universe_level1/black_holes.html
    • http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/science/know_l1/black_holes.html
    • http://amazing-space.stsci.edu/capture/blackholes/
    • http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/en/kids/cs_space.shtml
  • For average adult readers
    • http://chandra.harvard.edu/xray_sources/blackholes.html
    • http://chandra.harvard.edu/xray_sources/quasars.html
    • http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/seuforum/blackholelanding.htm
    • http://hubblesite.org/discoveries/black_holes/
  • For advanced readers:
    • http://casa.colorado.edu/~ajsh/home.html
    • http://cosmology.berkeley.edu/Education/BHfaq.html
      
      
• Black hole activities for the classroom
  Black holes are an excellent way to engage your student and increase their curiosity and wonder of the world around them. Here are some sites that have classroom activities which explore the concepts of how black holes behave, and teach basic concepts in science and math. Interactive education matrix for educators interested in teaching about black holes (this includes links below and more)
  • http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/teachers/blackholes/blackholes.html
  • http://einstein.stanford.edu/ (see GP-B Educators Guide link at top of page)
  • http://amazing-space.stsci.edu/resources/explorations/blackholes/lesson/index.html
  • http://glast.sonoma.edu/teachers/teachers.html#agn
  • http://swift.sonoma.edu/education/index.html#grb
  • http://www.adlerplanetarium.org/education/teachers/plans/gravity/index.shtml
  • http://cgwp.gravity.psu.edu/outreach/activities/
    
    
• Cool black hole games for all ages
  What better way to treat the endpoints of all matter, space, and time, than with a game? These websites features games - both online and board/card games - that are not only fun to play, but are educational and standards-based.
  • http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/en/kids/blackhole/
  • http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/en/kids/blackhole/index.shtml
  • http://mystery.sonoma.edu/live_from_2-alpha/index.html
  • http://glast.sonoma.edu/teachers/race.html
  • http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/seuforum/bh_popup_spacetimelab.htm
  • http://www.kidsdomain.com/down/pc/blackhole.html
  • http://webphysics.ph.msstate.edu/javamirror/explrsci/dswmedia/blakhole.htm
  • http://www.universeforum.org/einstein/resource_BHExplorer.htm
  • http://www.universeforum.org/einstein/resource_journeyblackhole.htm
  • http://www.universeforum.org/einstein/resources_visual.htm
    
    
• Great black hole resource pages
  There are many more great sites on the web dealing with black holes, how they work, how they affect their neighborhoods, and what scientists hope to learn from them. Listed below are a few of these places where you can learn even more about black holes.
  • http://www.astrosociety.org/education/resources/scifi02.html#black
  • http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/gifcity/bh_pub_faq.html
  • http://www.phys.vt.edu/~jhs/faq/blackholes.html
  • http://chandra.harvard.edu/resources/faq/black_hole/bhole-main.html
  • http://www.astro.keele.ac.uk/workx/blackholes/index3.html
  • http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/newsdesk/archive/releases/category/exotic/black%20hole/

This page was last modified on Wednesday, 12-Mar-2008 12:42:11 PDT.