The mysteries of black holes will be discussed at Fiske Planetarium on the campus of the University of Colorado at Boulder on Friday, Sept. 12, and Tuesday, Sept. 16, at 7:30 p.m.
Professor Andrew Hamilton will present the live star show, "Black Holes and Relativity," as part of the fall 2003 schedule of monthly astronomy talks. The live talks are given by CU-Boulder professors and guest lecturers. Hamilton is a professor in CU-Boulder's astrophysical and planetary sciences department.
Hamilton's show includes recent Hubble Space Telescope observations of possible black holes in distant galaxies and a look at other evidence of black holes in our own Milky Way galaxy. At the end of the show, he will take the audience on a simulated trip into a black hole.
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 nothing can escape its gravitational field, not even light.
For more information about black holes visit Hamilton's Web site "Falling into a Black Hole" at .
Admission for the show is $5 for adults, $4 for students with valid identification and $3 for children and seniors.
The Sommers-Bausch Observatory will be open to the public after the Friday evening show, weather permitting. Admission to the observatory is free.
For more information about Fiske Planetarium and other shows and programs it offers, call (303) 492-5001 or visit the Web site at .