Helen Plum Library

Discusses the history and current state of scientific understanding of black holes, exploring what they are, how they are formed, potential uses, and what they tell us about the fate of the universe.

"In 1916, Einstein became the first to predict the existence of gravitational waves: sounds without a material medium generated by the unfathomably energy-producing collision of black holes. Now, Janna Levin, herself an astrophysicist, recounts the story of the search, over the last fifty years, for these elusive waves--a quest that has culminated in the creation of the most expensive project ever funded by the National Science Foundation ($1 billion-plus)....

"Lurking at the center of our galaxy and in the farthest reaches of space are black holes. Once unseeable and unknowable, these cosmic devourers--sometimes born from the death of stars--swallow even light itself. What exactly is a black hole? And how do we even know they exist? In a kid-friendly, rhyming narration, the elusive astronomical object introduces itself as both a behemoth star-eater and a shy, rarely-spotted phenomena. Physicist Eve M....

Neil deGrasse Tyson has a talent for guiding audiences through the mysteries of outer space with stunning clarity and almost childlike enthusiasm. Here, Tyson compiles his favorite essays that he wrote for Natural History magazine across a myriad of cosmic topics, from astral life at the frontiers of astrobiology to the movie industry's feeble efforts to get its night skies right. Tyson introduces us to the physics of black holes by explaining the...

"From the acclaimed author of Black Hole Blues and Other Songs from Outer Space--an authoritative, wholly accessible, fascinating guide to the most challenging phenomena of contemporary science, which is now the anchor of our understanding of the cosmos. Throughout her career, astrophysicist Janna Levin has focused, alongside her research, on making the science she studies not just accessible, but, perhaps more important, intriguing to the nonscientist....

Traces the efforts of an elite scientific team who tested Einstein's theory of relativity during a historic mission to photograph a black hole, addressing key questions about time, space, and the nature of the universe "[This book] follows a team of elite scientists on their historic mission to take the first picture of a black hole, putting Einstein's theory of relativity to its ultimate test and helping to answer our deepest questions about space,...

Eleven-year-old Stella Rodriguez finds herself in possession of a strange new pet that swallows up everything in sight when a black hole decides to follow her home from NASA one day. Stella especially likes it when Larry swallows up items that remind her of her dad who died recently and left a cosmically vast space in her heart. Stella, her little brother Cosmo, along with the help of their pet hamster Stinky Stu and Larry go on an adventure from...