Oct 21, 2026 · 17 min · 15 segments
Viewers like you help make PBS (Thank you 😃) . Support your local PBS Member Station here: https://to.pbs.org/DonateSPACE Uploaded 30-08-17 Black holes are very…
Matt O'DowdHost
[upbeat music] The astrophysical phenomenon of the black hole has captured the imagination of scientists and science enthusiasts alike for many decades.

When the idea first emerged from Einstein's general theory of relativity, physicists wondered how seriously to take this mathematical description of an inescapable region of spacetime.

Astronomers have since demonstrated that black holes are very real, with convincing evidence that quasars, X-ray binaries, even the center of our own Milky Way galaxy harbor these gravitational monstrosities.

But the mathematics that predicts the existence of the black hole also describes entities that are even stranger, but whose relationship with reality is still unclear.

A white hole is the opposite of a black hole in a very literal mathematical sense.

A black hole is defined as a region of inward-flowing spacetime with a one-way boundary called the event horizon, from inside of which nothing can ever escape.

Nothing outside a white hole can ever enter, and everything inside must be ejected.


So these might be expected to radiate like crazy, and white would be an understatement.

Now, before everyone gets too excited, white holes are probably a figment of mathematical imagination, but they're a fascinating one, and the idea may help us understand the origin of the universe.

[upbeat music] The astrophysical phenomenon of the black hole has captured the imagination of scientists and science enthusiasts alike for many decades.

When the idea first emerged from Einstein's general theory of relativity, physicists wondered how seriously to take this mathematical description of an inescapable region of spacetime.

Astronomers have since demonstrated that black holes are very real, with convincing evidence that quasars, X-ray binaries, even the center of our own Milky Way galaxy harbor these gravitational monstrosities.

But the mathematics that predicts the existence of the black hole also describes entities that are even stranger, but whose relationship with reality is still unclear.

A white hole is the opposite of a black hole in a very literal mathematical sense.

A black hole is defined as a region of inward-flowing spacetime with a one-way boundary called the event horizon, from inside of which nothing can ever escape.

Nothing outside a white hole can ever enter, and everything inside must be ejected.


So these might be expected to radiate like crazy, and white would be an understatement.

Now, before everyone gets too excited, white holes are probably a figment of mathematical imagination, but they're a fascinating one, and the idea may help us understand the origin of the universe.
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