The mysteries of black holes, including what it would be like to fall into one, will be explored during two June shows at the University of Colorado at Boulder's Fiske Planetarium.
CU-Boulder Professor Andrew Hamilton will present 聯Black Holes,聰 a show intended for a general audience, on June 15 at 8 p.m. On June 16 at 9:30 a.m. he will present the CU Wizards show 聯Black Holes,聰 which is geared toward students in grades five through nine. Both shows will be in the planetarium.
Hamilton's June 15 show will include recent Hubble Space Telescope observations of possible black holes in distant galaxies. He also will discuss evidence of black holes in the Milky Way galaxy, and describe what they are. At the end of the show, he will take the audience on a simulated trip into a black hole.
The CU Wizards show will feature an artificial black hole where volunteers from the audience will leap off a treadmill onto a crash mat to illustrate falling into a black hole. They will learn why nothing can get out of a black hole and what would actually happen to a person who fell into one. The audience also will make tornadoes on stage.
聯Black Holes聰 is the final presentation of the 2006-07 CU Wizards series. The educational series, which this year celebrated its 30th anniversary, introduces young science enthusiasts to topics in astronomy, chemistry and physics.
Black holes are believed to form when huge stars use up all of their nuclear fuel and collapse. The mass of each gigantic star is so great that even light can't escape its gravitational field.
For more information about black holes visit Hamilton's Web site at casa.colorado.edu/~ajsh/schw.shtml.
Admission for the June 15 show is $6 for adults, $5 for students with valid identification and $3.50 for children and seniors. The CU Wizards presentation is free. Sommers-Bausch Observatory, adjacent to the planetarium, is open to the public following the June 15 show, weather permitting. Admission to the observatory is free.
For more information about CU Wizards call (303) 492-5011 or visit .
For more information about Fiske Planetarium and other shows and programs it offers, call (303) 492-5001 or visit the Web site at fiske.colorado.edu/.