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Monster of the Milky Way

Program Overview  Print this Teacher's Guide (PDF, 10 pages)

NOVA explores the nature of black holes and follows scientists as they seek to understand the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy.

The program:

• explains how a black hole forms and provides simulations revealing what might be the nature of space surrounding and inside a black hole.

• details the nature of the event horizon that surrounds the black hole—nothing within the horizon, including light, can escape its gravity.

• chronicles how astronomers found evidence supporting the existence of black holes and details the methods they used to infer the presence of these unobservable objects.

• follows astronomers who race to confirm the existence of a supermassive black hole in the center of our Milky Way galaxy.

• notes that astronomers have already found evidence that suggest there may be supermassive black holes at the centers of nearly all large galaxies throughout the universe.

• suggests how these black holes may have formed.

• reviews how black holes may affect the matter surrounding them and explores theories about how they evolve.

• recounts how, since 2002, astronomers worldwide have been able to observe the galactic center's black hole flaring up.

• considers what may happen to the galactic center's black hole when it eventually encounters a larger black hole found in the nearby Andromeda galaxy.

Taping Rights: Can be used up to one year after the program is taped off the air.