Black holes are regions of space filled with such intense gravity that anything which gets too close, even light, is unable to escape. Although Albert Einstein's insights let to the modern idea of black holes, he remained sceptical about their existence. Yet, in the decades since, a wealth of astronomical observations have provided strong evidence that black holes not only exist in the cosmos, they're commonplace.
Black holes have a profound effect on time: their gravitational force pulls on time itself, slowing its rate of passage ever more as one gets ever nearer a black hole's edge. Because of this, black holes provide for a specific kind of time travel. Were you to hover near the edge of a black hole, time for you would pass more slowly than for everyone else who remained far away. On returning to Earth you would thus find that hundreds or even thousands of years had elapsed, depending on the size of the black hole and how close you ventured to its edge.
Scientists still haven't figured out what happens at the very centre of a black hole. Some have suggested that a black hole's centre is where time comes to an end while others have proposed that it's a portal to another universe. Finding the definitive answer is widely recognised as one of the great remaining challenges in our continuing quest to understand space, time and the cosmos.
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get the book. if not for your own offspring, for someone's offspring you know, or will know one day.
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