The Black Hole exhibit in the Cullman Hall of the Universe features a swirling gas sculpture that shows how matter streams into a black hole. The adjacent Black Hole Theater screens short films about the latest astrophysics research.

A black hole is so dense and massive that nothing can escape its gravity, not even light. Gas that falls in forms a disk that heats to millions of degrees, shining at all wavelengths, from X-rays to radio waves, and blowing jets of gas above and below that approach light speed.