Teacher’s questions for Black Hole Mysteries

By Science News Explores

SCIENCE

Before reading:

  1. List everything you know about black holes.

  2. How does gravity affect you?

During reading:

  1. Is a black hole really a hole?

  2. Why can’t anything escape a black hole?

  3. What happens the closer you get to a black hole?

  4. Explain the term “spaghettification.”

  5. What is an event horizon?

  6. How are mass and gravity related?

  7. Describe what happens if a star strays too close to a black hole.

  8. Explain the differences between stellar-mass, supermassive and ultramassive black holes.

  9. What lies at the center of every galaxy?

  10. Why is NGC 1277 so unusual?

After reading:

  1. How do astronomers observe black holes if they are invisible?

  2. Is “black hole” the most accurate name for this phenomenon? Can you think of another, better name?

SOCIAL STUDIES

  1. Astronomers predicted the existence of black holes long before the first one was ever discovered. Can you think of other things we know must exist, even if we cannot see them?