SETI Talks: Black Holes Are Real. How Do They Shape Structure and Evolution in Our Universe?

A SETI Talks sponsored by Daniel Swanson

Fantastical though they may seem, black holes are real, not just science fiction or ideas from the imaginations of theorists. Scientists are now able to study black holes, in detail, throughout our Universe.

Researchers are gaining different, complementary views of black holes using multiple techniques, but we are still a long way from putting a complete picture together. In April 2019, an international collaboration called the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) produced the first image of a black hole found in the heart of the nearby galaxy Messier 87. The LIGO gravitational wave detector has even been able to spot the ripples created in space itself when black holes collide. When gas falls into a black hole, it releases an enormous amount of energy. As strange as it seems, this means that black holes can give rise to some of the brightest objects in the known Universe, especially in the X-ray waveband. Observing the X-rays emitted as gas falls into a black hole gives us a close-up view of what’s happening just outside of the event horizon. Future space telescopes, such as the European Space Agency’s Athena mission, will reveal supermassive black holes in the early Universe and help us understand how black holes grow and helped shape our Universe. We invited two astrophysicists to discuss the state-of-the-art scientific investigations and instrumentation dedicated to understanding these most extreme phenomena in our Universe. Our guests will be Dr. Laura Brenneman, Deputy Associate Director for the High-Energy Astrophysics Division of the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, who pioneered the study of the rotation of black holes and is involved in the ATHENA mission, and Dr. Dan Wilkins, an astrophysicist in the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology at Stanford University. He led a team that recorded the first detection of radiation coming from behind a black hole—bent due to the warping of spacetime around the object. Simon Steel, astronomer and Senior Director of Education and Outreach at the SETI Institute, will moderate the discussion. The conversation will explore how black holes are evidence of Einstein's theory of general relativity, how new instrumentation could help us better understand how black holes interact with their host galaxies, and how a very advanced civilization might harness the energy of black holes. SETI Talks are presented to our audience at no cost and are supported by contributions from supporters like you. If you are interested in sponsoring a future SETI Talks, please email us at development@seti.org .

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