Black Holes - “Monster of the Milky Way” (Nova) Video Questions

1. Where would you find the brightest part of a galaxy? WHY?

2. What happens if you poke a hole in the fabric of space & time?

3. Why does light get bent or pulled into a black hole and can’t get out?

4. We can’t see normal black holes, so how do we know they exist?

5. What happens to a star if it passes too close to a black hole?

6. How did Andrea Ghez and other scientists prove that there is a black hole at the center of our galaxy?

7. When a Super Giant explodes it leaves behind a ______star. If this super-dense star continues to collapse it will form a ______.

8. How many black holes are there in our galaxy?

9. A. What would happen to your body as you fell into a normal sized black hole?

B. What about going into a Super-Massive black hole?

10. How many galaxies have black holes at their center?

Black Holes - “Monster of the Milky Way” (Nova) Video Answers

1. Where would you find the brightest part of a galaxy? WHY? (The center – huge collection of stars and gas/dust)

2. What happens if you poke a hole in the fabric of space & time? (Black Hole is created)

3. Why does light get bent or pulled into a black hole and can’t get out? (gravity is too big)

4. We can’t see normal black holes, so how do we know they exist? (stars orbiting around nothing)

5. What happens to a star if it passes to close to a black hole? (gravity whips it around super fast, like a slingshot)

6. How did Ghez and other scientists prove that there is a black hole at the center of our galaxy? (lots of stars orbiting around an invisible point in space)

7. When a Super Giant explodes is leaves behind a ______star. If this super-dense star continues to collapse it will form a ______. (Neutron, black hole)

8. How many black holes are there in our galaxy? (millions)

9. A. What would happen to your body as you fell into a normal sized black hole? (spagettified – body super stretched, killing you)

B. What about going into a Super-Massive black hole? (you could go in a ways, then see blinding light, then vaporize)

10. How many galaxies have black holes at their center? (almost all)

11. What is “galactic cannibalism”? (galaxies eat each other and get bigger)

12. A. What happens to matter as it falls into a black hole? (swirls around the BH like a whirlpool)

B. Where does the matter go that doesn’t get pulled into the black hole? (it forms a jet of super-heated gasses shooting out in two directions)

13. Why doesn’t our galaxy’s super-massive black hole have jets coming from it? (not enough matter around it)

14. How will the Andromeda galaxy effect ours in about 2 billion years? (galactic cannibalism - the two galaxies will collide and form one large galaxy)