This season ends with one of greatest mysteries of the universe: black holes. What is a black hole? Where do you find a really big one? How does it look? How to image a mustard seed in New York? How to build a Black Hole Camera? Why do astronomers love being on mountains?

Can one ever see a black hole? Yes, and it may happen very soon. Black holes are one of the most fundamental and exotic predictions of Einstein’s theory of general relativity. Their defining feature is the event horizon, the ultimate boundary, where everything disappears and from which not even light can escape. Supermassive black holes are thought to reside in the center of large galaxies, including our own Milky Way.

At present a global network of high-frequency radio telescopes – the Event Horizon Telescope – is making a first attempt to image the shadow cast by their event horizon. Detailed computer simulations give us a fascinating preview of what we can expect to see. This and other efforts promise a new era in studying the nature of spacetime under the most extreme conditions.

Cold cocktails like cold black holes to take you beyond the event horizon while Albin & Mika play groovy bass and harmonic structures.

Photo: Bronzwaer / Davelaar / Moscibrodzka / Falcke / Radboud University