Black Holes in Science Fiction

There’s something infinitely romantic about the concept of black holes. It’s odd, really, if you think about it. We don’t know much about what’s on the other side of the universe or even our galaxy… but wondering about those things doesn’t capture the imagination with the same intensity as wondering, “what the heck is on the other side of black holes?”

Black holes have been inspiring science fiction writers for decades. They’ve spawned countless adventures in five-penny science fiction magazines and episodes of Star Trek. And they’ve also fueled plenty of novels and feature films. If you’re into science and physics, they can’t help but capture your imagination.

Gateway
Gateway is a Hugo Award winning novel written by Fredeik Pohl in 1977. The title of the novel refers to a hollow asteroid that was used long ago as a space port. A miner named Bob purchases a ticket there, and goes on three separate mining jobs. In the third, Bob gets more than he signed up for: namely, black holes. He and his partner find their two ships in the gravitational grip of a black hole. In order to save one ship, they have to sacrifice the other to the black hole… and Bob ends up on that ship.

Event Horizon
If you’re into science fiction, chances are you’ve seen Event Horizon. If not, you probably didn’t-- the movie bombed at the box office when it premiered in 1997. Despite that, it’s a must-see movie for those interested in black holes. The story revolves around a ship called the Event Horizon (which also refers to the area of space surrounding black holes), which was supposed to use a new sort of gravitational engine (one which could harness energy from black holes) to travel to another galaxy. But something goes wrong on the Event Horizon, and the ship ends up abandoned, floating in space.

You’ll have to see it to know the ending, but… going through black holes and out the other side isn’t very nice for anybody involved.

Exultant
Written in 2004, Exultant is one of the newer books to use the concept of black holes in general and supermassive galaxy-center black holes in particular. For those interested in the science as much as the fiction, much of Exultant spends a lot of time explaining theoretical physics. The book itself is concerned with a strange race of aliens who live on a strange planet at the edge of the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy.

To learn more about black holes, visit the Smithsonian Magazine Website at: http://www.smithsonianmag.com There you’ll find plenty of interesting facts about researching these amazing inside-out stars-- in particular the supermassive black holes that live at the center galaxies.

Black Holes, Diane Arbus, Daredevil, Cleopatra