Black holes can seem like something from a science fiction fever dream. They are objects so compact that they curve spacetime back on itself, trapping anything that falls in, including light. Yet they exist: the Universe contains (ahem) billions and billions of black holes, ranging from small star-mass individuals to supermassive monsters at the centers of nearly every galaxy. Like them or not, they are part of our cosmos, just as ordinary in a sense as stars and planets.

Yet there’s still a lot we don’t quite understand about black holes, and that stuff is the topic of our upcoming online class: “Black Holes Into Darkness”. What actually happens when something crosses the event horizon of a black hole? Do black holes really “forget” what falls into them? Do black holes indicate that our Universe is actually a hologram? What did Stephen Hawking actually mean when he said black holes don’t exist, and is he right?

CosmoAcademy director Matthew Francis will give a guided tour of the strangest topics in modern black hole research … starting next week! Sign up for “Black Holes Into Darkness” today! (Lens flare not included.)

More information

Instructor: Matthew Francis

Class status: Open for enrollment!

Meeting times: Mondays and Wednesdays, 9–10 PM US Eastern time (6-7 PM US Pacific time)

Course dates:

1. Monday, September 8
2. Wednesday, September 10
3. Monday, September 15
4. Wednesday, September 17

Enroll today!