This image of Centaurus A shows a spectacular new view of a supermassive black hole's power. Jets and lobes powered by the central black hole in this nearby galaxy are shown by submillimeter data (colored orange) from the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX) telescope in Chile and X-ray data (colored blue) from the Chandra X-ray Observatory. Visible light data from the Wide Field Imager on the Max-Planck/ESO 2.2 m telescope, also located in Chile, shows the dust lane in the galaxy and background stars. The X-ray jet in the upper left extends for about 13,000 light years away from the black hole. The APEX data shows that material in the jet is travelling at about half the speed of light.
This image of Centaurus A shows a spectacular new view of a supermassive black hole's power. Jets and lobes powered by the central black hole in this nearby galaxy are shown by submillimeter data (colored orange) from the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX) telescope in Chile and X-ray data (colored blue) from the Chandra X-ray Observatory. Visible light data from the Wide Field Imager on the Max-Planck/ESO 2.2 m telescope, also located in Chile, shows the dust lane in the galaxy and background stars. The X-ray jet in the upper left extends for about 13,000 light years away from the black hole. The APEX data shows that material in the jet is travelling at about half the speed of light.

Black Hole Bonanza: StarTalk Live! With Janna Levin and Jenny Greene

ESO/WFI (Optical); MPIfR/ESO/APEX/A.Weiss et al. (Submillimetre); NASA/CXC/CfA/R.Kraft et al. (X-ray)Derivative work including grading and crop: Julian Herzog, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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About This Episode

How did the largest black holes in the universe form? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comedian Chuck Nice come to you live to learn about the history of black holes, what’s inside them, and new discoveries with cosmologist Janna Levin and astrophysicist & supermassive black hole expert, Jenny Greene.

What is quantum foam? Learn about where relativity meets the quantum and Stephen Hawking’s bet against black holes. We explore the lifecycle of black holes and how they eventually evaporate. We discuss John Wheeler, John Michell, and the father(s) of black hole theory. How massive is a supermassive black hole?

How do we detect black holes since they do not emit light? Do all galaxies have black holes at their center? We talk accretion disks, event horizons, and the electromagnetic power of black holes. We learn about Jenny’s work with the James Webb Space Telescope and how it’s helping us see back in time. Plus, find out how scientists use a dark matter halo to see farther into the cosmos.

What is inside a black hole? We detail what exactly happens during spaghettification and what it would be like to fall into a black hole. What happens within the event horizon? Could the inside of a black hole be made up of quantum black holes? Are we inside a black hole ourselves? We explore time dilation, wormholes, and whether black holes can be created without supernovae. Plus, some cosmic perspectives on our current age of space exploration.

Thanks to our Patrons Leigh Momii, Molly Jebsen, Gilbert Cruz, Robert Colonel, Oliver Orofino, and Stephen Coleman for supporting us this week.

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