Black Holes - BBC Horizon (HD)

Uploaded by RosesOfTime on 5 Nov 2011

Black holes are one of the most destructive forces in the universe, capable of tearing a planet apart and swallowing an entire star. Yet scientists now believe they could hold the key to answering the ultimate question - what was there before the Big Bang?

The trouble is that researching them is next to impossible. Black holes are by definition invisible and there's no scientific theory able to explain them. Despite these obvious obstacles, Horizon meets the astronomers attempting to image a black hole for the very first time and the theoretical physicists getting ever closer to unlocking their mysteries. It's a story that takes us into the heart of a black hole and to the very edge of what we think we know about the universe.

Very little is known about them, but many scientists choose to study black holes. One believes he's seen one form and develop. Einstein's theory has not only predicted the existence of black holes, but also what it would be like to travel into one. Some theorists have found a problem with Einstein's theory, making the understanding of a black hole even more peculiar. A professor spent 10 years developing an infrared telescope that allowed him to see a black hole 25,000 light years away.

Super Massive black holes are so powerful they may actually affect the galaxy in which they are situated. The object found at the heart of a black hole appears to be the very object that started the Big Bang, although scientists are still no closer to understanding either.

Dr Shep Doeleman has hooked up radio telescopes from across America to try and photograph a shadow cast by a black hole; something no one has ever done before. Will scientists ever be able to produce a complete theory of everything? And if so, how will it come about?