Well you should all be very proud of your
efforts class. Our Galaxy for the Gala is
very nearly complete and it looks simply spectacular!
Just look at it! The star systems are secured,
planets populated and nebulas... well the
nebulas are nice and fluffy – all in a beautiful
double spiral. Well done!
But to really make our entry a showstopper
I’d like us to include one more thing class.
QUARK: A lovely set of curtains?
No Quark – A Black Hole!
But Miss... Aren’t they like... INCREDIBLY
and UNBELIEVABLY dangerous?
And incredibly and unbelievably FASCINATING
Quark! They’re one of the strangest things
in the universe. We’re going to get as close
as we can get to a real black hole, so I want
everyone to buckle up and stay in their seats
– that means you too Quark!
Aw! Just looking for my space beetles Miss
– they’ve escaped again!
No time for space beetles, it’s time to
go.
We’re going to get as close as we can to
Sagittarius A – it’s a black hole believed
to be in the centre of the Milky Way. We can’t
say for sure that it’s there because black
holes swallow light, making them invisible.
So what’s to say there is anything there
at all?
Well, scientists get clues from the behaviour
of stars and other matter nearby. When a really
enormous star dies, all of its matter gets
sucked inwards, until everything is inside
a tiny dot and this dot has so much gravity
that it pulls any and everything nearby inside.
I can’t see anything! It’s just totally
black out there.
THAT helps me to know that we’re in the
right place. You can see… well… that there
ISN’T anything to see! No planets, no stars
– not even one measly space rock. But the
computer is showing that SOMETHING in this
expanse of black space is as massive as over
a BILLION suns...
Freaky! So where’s it hiding? There’s
NOTHING there!
Wherever it is Sam, it’s NO BIGGER than
a GRAIN OF SAND.
Woah Miss, that’s seriously spooky! Something
so enormously massive... and incredibly tiny!
I don’t think I WANT to get much closer!
Don’t worry Sam, we’re a safe distance
from the Event Horizon – that’s the edge
of the Black Hole. In fact as we’re in the
Super Safe Space Lab, we can get juuust a
little closer.... watch the clocks everyone!
What’s happening Miss?
The laws of physics including time itself
are getting distorted - as the enormous forces
pull everything inside. We should back out
a bit before it’s too late! That’s better!
If you were ever unlucky enough to be sucked
into a black hole, it’s believed that you
would be stretched into a long thin thread
in a process called spaghettification. Before
being crushed into a tiny speck with all the
other matter.
So you can see it’s a VERY good job that
the doors of the Space Lab are secured!
Erm, Quark? Aren’t they your space beetles
over there on the safety doors? NIBBLING at
the wires?
YAY! It’s Mr and Mrs Beepy! They LOVE nibbling
wires.
Ohhhh no! If those doors open we could all
be sucked in to the black hole - Stay buckled
in your seats class, It’s too late! Hold
on tight!
Oh Miss! Our Project Galaxy,... it’s being
sucked out of the Lab and into the Black Hole,
it’s gone forever!
A VERY LARGE SERIES OF THOCKS/SLURPS AS IF
A GALAXY HAS BEEN SUCKED THROUGH SOME HANGAR
DOORS AND DOWN A BLACK HOLE.
Your blooming space beetles nibbled the wires
holding the door and now our ENTIRE Galaxy
has been sucked into the black hole – every
last planet and star!
Aw no! Sorry everyone!
We’ll have to start again, but right now
we need to get out of here before it sucks
us in too! Let’s get back to Deep Space
High!
“DEEP SPACE HIGH – THE GALAXY GALA, WITH
THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY – ADVANCING
ASTRONMY”.
