Session Date
Lesson Topic
How do we 'observe' black holes - Part 2
Lesson Outline
We reviewed Jared's assignment from the weekend, since I managed to see the movie 'Interstellar' yesterday. We discussed the physical properties of black holes as portrayed in the movie (very accurately, for the scientific consultant was Kip Thorne, a renowned cosmologist and theoretical physicist). Seeing as the (supermassive) black hole in the movie had an accretion disk, I showed Jared how accretion disks around both supermassive and stellar-mass black holes form. It is primarily via accretion disks that we can 'observe' black holes. In X-ray binaries, the accretion disks radiate in the X-rays, and with appropriate satellites we can detect this radiation.
Assignment
Write down five questions from the course to be discussed on Thursday
Session Minutes
60
Minutes Student Attended
60
Lesson Comments
Jared was thrilled that I had finally seen 'Interstellar' (and I must say, I was incredibly impressed with the portrayal of physics in the movie). He could not stop pondering on the behavior of physics and time in the proximity of the strong gravitational fields of black holes. He asked many relevant questions, most of which I was able to segue into the topic of the class - 'observing' black holes through their influence on their immediate environment (the companion star, the accretion disk). The next couple of classes will be spent on reviewing everything from September to this week, then we'll head for the Solar System after Thanksgiving.
Session Hours
1.00
Hours Attended
1.00
Entry Status
Review Status
Student Name(s)
Subject
School