Black Holes

Ray P. Norris

When I was a lad, black holes were found only in science fiction – sucking in unwary astronauts, and propelling them through holes in spacetime to another Universe. Then the evidence started rolling in, and astrophysicists are now confident that black holes not only exist, but are common, perhaps lying at the centre of every Galaxy.

So what are black holes, how do they form, and what happens if you fall into one? And how do we know they’re out there?