Black Hole Explorer
Black holes are often depicted as giant monstrous vacuum cleaners of the universe — they suck everything and not even light can escape. This is true when matter approaches the boundary of a black hole, called the ‘event horizon’, it cannot escape. This is because black holes have singularities: Known laws of physics break down inside them.
What are black holes? Do they really exist? How do they form? How are they related to stars? What would happen if you fell into one? How do you see a black hole if they emit no light? Can a black hole also be a wormhole or a time machine? Set in the year 2090, join us on this journey as we explore the concepts behind black holes.
The course consists of 12 modules and is offered in English.
Each module would be of 10-12 minutes and classes can be completed anytime over the specified week.
Recommended Age Group: 14 years onwards
Course Overview
Definition and Formation
This module would be covered in a week and is divided into four modules:
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Dangerous But Necessary
Let's face it: Black holes are terrifying. A point in space with so much gravity that not even light can escape? Human beings don't stand a chance. This module introduces the basic terminology.
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A Brief History Of Black Hole - 1
Black holes were once thought to be only a mathematical curiosity. But bit by bit, astronomers tallied up evidence for black holes’ existence. Let us understand this journey in detail.
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A Brief History Of Black Hole - 2
The foundation for what we know about black holes came during the Great War. Join me on this journey as we further strengthen our understanding of gravitational beasts.
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Mission Readiness Test
How much do you know about black holes? Take this awesome black hole quiz and test your knowledge about event horizon, singularity, Schwarzschild radius, and much more.
Shapes and Sizes
This module would be covered in a week and is divided into four modules:
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Structure Of A Black Hole
A black hole is a region of spacetime where gravity is so strong that nothing including the mighty light, can escape from it. Let us know what makes up these gigantic beasts.
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Sound Of A Black Hole
If a black hole devours a planet or a star and no one is around to hear it, does it still make a sound? Here, we'll answer this question in detail and also enjoy some black hole songs.
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Varieties Of Black Hole
Black holes come in a variety of sizes — from a mass of a few Suns to millions of solar masses. As these vastly different black holes feast on the matter, do they behave in the same way? Let us find out.
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"See" That Black Hole
Even though black holes excite the imagination, the truth is that no astronomer has actually seen one. Before we actually "see" a black hole, let us figure out a way by which we can "see" a black hole.
Black Hole's Warped World
This module would be covered in a week and is divided into four modules:
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Event Horizon Telescope
The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) is a large telescope array consisting of a global network of radio telescopes. Learn how scientists actually manage to click a black hole.
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Ain't Nothing Like Real Thing
We cannot directly see black holes with any light we know how to detect. But we can see them indirectly, based on how they influence the matter around them. Want to know how? Join me.
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That Thing
In this module, we will demonstrate what a supermassive black hole in the galaxy M87 with a mass 6.5 billion times that of our sun looks like. This module explains black holes in an entirely different way.
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Space Station Work
Black holes are the most mysterious objects in the universe. Nobody knows exactly what’s going on inside. And what we know about them is hard to imagine. What do you know about black holes?
Eureka! First Photograph
This module would be covered in a week and is divided into four modules:
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Getting First Photograph(s)
Let us understand the image of Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy and captured by the Event Horizon Telescope and what it means.
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Mission Readiness Test
You saw the iconic black hole image. How much do you know about it and the gravitational behemoth it depicts? Let us put your black hole knowledge to the test and find out.
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Falling Into A Black Hole
If you fell into a black hole, the theory suggests that gravity would stretch you out like spaghetti, before you reached the singularity. Is it actually so simple? Let us find out.
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Help, Being Eaten By A Black Hole
Ever wondered what black holes feasting on stars, planets, or you look like? Worry not, we have you covered. Join us as we discuss in detail the impacts of such cosmic capturing events.
Meet Your Mission Commander
Srijan Pal Singh
India's #1 Science Author and Former Advisor to Dr. Kalam
Srijan Pal Singh is an author, education innovator, futurist and social entrepreneur. He studied in La Martiniere College and then completed his Engineering and further went to the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad to study management. He was awarded the Gold Medal for the Best All-rounder Student of the 2009 batch at IIM-A and was also the President of the Student’s Council there.
He served as Officer on Special Duty and Advisor (Technology and Policy) at the Office of Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam where he worked as a close aide to the former president on various consulting works. Some of the projects include Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas (PURA), Kalam-NSS, USA Initiative for Space-based Solar Power, Projects on Koodanakulum Nuclear Plant, Neutrinos, Development Plans for various governments across India, Russia, Maldives, Canada and UAE.
He has interacted with leading institutions of the world for addresses/research and delegate visits including, FermiLab (Chicago), UKCA Yorkshire, CERN (Switzerland), Boulby Underground Dark Matter Laboratory, Harvard University (USA), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA), Boston University, Kentucky University, Sydney University, University of Edinburgh, St Gallen's University (Switzerland), Beijing University, HBS, DRDO, BrahMos Missile Project, Toyota Motors (Georgetown), George Washington University, Mahindra, NITI Aayog, IIT Delhi, IIT Bombay, IIT Madras, IIM Bangalore, IIM Calcutta and many other leading institutions across the world. He has been a host to several Nobel Laureates and Astronauts in his shows.