Brian Cox

So if you took our sun, which you can fit a million Earths inside, and collapsed it down to make a black hole, it would form a black hole when it shrunk within a radius of three kilometers, about two miles. So you've got to take this thing, which is what I have to convert from kilometers to miles. That's okay. 700,000 kilometers. It's about 500,000 miles radius or something like that, the sun.

So you squash it down until it's about two miles, and then that would form a black hole. Wow. Six billion times the mass of the sun means you multiply that by six billion. So these things, the so-called Schwarzschild radius is, I don't know, larger than our solar system, basically. Oh, my God. This thing that sits in a galaxy. So we've got these two photographs. Larger than our solar system.

So you squash it down until it's about two miles, and then that would form a black hole. Wow. Six billion times the mass of the sun means you multiply that by six billion. So these things, the so-called Schwarzschild radius is, I don't know, larger than our solar system, basically. Oh, my God. This thing that sits in a galaxy. So we've got these two photographs. Larger than our solar system.

So you squash it down until it's about two miles, and then that would form a black hole. Wow. Six billion times the mass of the sun means you multiply that by six billion. So these things, the so-called Schwarzschild radius is, I don't know, larger than our solar system, basically. Oh, my God. This thing that sits in a galaxy. So we've got these two photographs. Larger than our solar system.

Yeah, the event. So it's a big structure. Now, that's a Chandra X-ray image of... There it is. That's it. So that one there, that's the M87 black hole. So what you're seeing there is the emission from the material that's swirling around it. It's called the accretion disk. So you have material that's orbiting very fast, emitting a lot of radiation. And that's what you see.

Yeah, the event. So it's a big structure. Now, that's a Chandra X-ray image of... There it is. That's it. So that one there, that's the M87 black hole. So what you're seeing there is the emission from the material that's swirling around it. It's called the accretion disk. So you have material that's orbiting very fast, emitting a lot of radiation. And that's what you see.

Yeah, the event. So it's a big structure. Now, that's a Chandra X-ray image of... There it is. That's it. So that one there, that's the M87 black hole. So what you're seeing there is the emission from the material that's swirling around it. It's called the accretion disk. So you have material that's orbiting very fast, emitting a lot of radiation. And that's what you see.

It's a flat disk, by the way. So you think Saturn's rings. So this material is very flat. But what you're seeing in that photograph is the light rays being bent around the black hole from that flat disk. So that was a prediction from Einstein's theory, basically. He published it in 1915. And you can predict that that's what one should look like.

It's a flat disk, by the way. So you think Saturn's rings. So this material is very flat. But what you're seeing in that photograph is the light rays being bent around the black hole from that flat disk. So that was a prediction from Einstein's theory, basically. He published it in 1915. And you can predict that that's what one should look like.

It's a flat disk, by the way. So you think Saturn's rings. So this material is very flat. But what you're seeing in that photograph is the light rays being bent around the black hole from that flat disk. So that was a prediction from Einstein's theory, basically. He published it in 1915. And you can predict that that's what one should look like.

And then just about, what was that, four years ago now, maybe five years ago, for the first time in history, we get an image of one. And it looks like the prediction. So it's a remarkable thing. How phenomenal is that?

And then just about, what was that, four years ago now, maybe five years ago, for the first time in history, we get an image of one. And it looks like the prediction. So it's a remarkable thing. How phenomenal is that?

And then just about, what was that, four years ago now, maybe five years ago, for the first time in history, we get an image of one. And it looks like the prediction. So it's a remarkable thing. How phenomenal is that?

So we've had those two photographs. The other thing we've had is so-called gravitational wave detections. So these are colliding black holes, and they collide and merge together. And obviously that's quite a violent event in the universe. And so that event, that process ripples space-time. So it sends ripples out in the fabric of the universe, space and time.

So we've had those two photographs. The other thing we've had is so-called gravitational wave detections. So these are colliding black holes, and they collide and merge together. And obviously that's quite a violent event in the universe. And so that event, that process ripples space-time. So it sends ripples out in the fabric of the universe, space and time.

So we've had those two photographs. The other thing we've had is so-called gravitational wave detections. So these are colliding black holes, and they collide and merge together. And obviously that's quite a violent event in the universe. And so that event, that process ripples space-time. So it sends ripples out in the fabric of the universe, space and time.

And actually, Kip Thorne, I've spoken to him several times. He's one of the greats, right, won the Nobel Prize for this. And he calls it a storm in time. So you get a time storm. So really, we're to think, as we speak now, there will be these very tiny ripples from violent cosmic events passing through this room. And they're changing the rate that time passes as they go through.

And actually, Kip Thorne, I've spoken to him several times. He's one of the greats, right, won the Nobel Prize for this. And he calls it a storm in time. So you get a time storm. So really, we're to think, as we speak now, there will be these very tiny ripples from violent cosmic events passing through this room. And they're changing the rate that time passes as they go through.

And actually, Kip Thorne, I've spoken to him several times. He's one of the greats, right, won the Nobel Prize for this. And he calls it a storm in time. So you get a time storm. So really, we're to think, as we speak now, there will be these very tiny ripples from violent cosmic events passing through this room. And they're changing the rate that time passes as they go through.

And we can detect that now. So we have detectors that can pick that up. And so we've seen those collisions as well.