LATROBE, PA — The Saint Vincent College Angelo J. Taiani Planetarium will host the show "Black Holes" at 4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 15.
Dr. Daniel Vanden Berk, associate physics professor in the Herbert W. Boyer School of Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Computing, will conduct the show alongside senior physics majors Adrianna Battaglia and Andrew Joyce, who will be serving as student assistants.
The approximately one-hour planetarium show will explore one of the most mysterious and intriguing objects in the universe: black holes.
What are black holes? How do we find them? What can they do to things that get too close? These questions and more will be addressed in the presentation. Guests will have the opportunity to talk with the planetarium operators and ask astronomy related questions.
“In black holes, the force of gravity is so strong that not even light can escape, and they challenge our every-day concepts of space and time,” Vanden Berk said. “The largest black holes reach masses over a billion times that of the sun. In the past few years, we have been able to take close-up images of the regions near several black holes, including a supermassive black hole that lurks at the center of our Milky Way galaxy.”
This planetarium show is free to attend and open to guests of all ages, but seating is limited and registration is required. For reservations, call 724-805-2631 or email Erin Black at erin.black@stvincent.edu.
The Angelo J. Taiani Planetarium is located inside the Sis and Herman Dupré Science Pavilion on the Saint Vincent College campus.
