Monster of the Milky Way

I just had a chance to watch the last half of an episode of Nova this morning before taking Nick to the doctor's office. It's all about black holes and how we're discovering that their roles in the universe are different than we once thought. Instead of being merely giant dumping grounds that absorb matter, which they do indeed do, they also play a part in ejecting matter back into the universe at massive and spectacular scales. Specifically, it addresses the black hole that is now known to be (very probably) at the center of our own galaxy and what that means for our galaxy's future. If you have a chance to watch this episode in HD on your local PBS affiliate, it's adept at presenting the material in an exciting way with amazing visuals and an exciting and tense musical score.

Our you can watch it on the web in episodic chunks at the link that follows. Nova - Monster of the Milky Way