Department of Astronomy


The Mysteries of Black Holes


M. Coleman Miller

University of Maryland


Black holes have long fascinated scientists and the general public alike, with their tantalizing role as portals of doom and key to physics in the extreme. Remarkably, not only have individual black holes been detected, but we are now beginning to appreciate that rather than being just selfish consumers of matter and radiation, black holes may play a key role in the development of entire galaxies. Moreover, in the next few years we will have many new tools to probe the nature of black holes, from surveys that will regularly see stars eaten by black holes to new instruments that will detect the vibrations of space-time as black holes spiral together. I will give a historical and current overview of all of these topics, as well as discussing the bizarre effects expected near black holes.