Dark Energy
I discuss here black holes, extreme astronomical objects that swallow all forms of matter and radiation surrounding them, and leave behind, as physicist John A. Wheeler said, only their ‘gravitational aura’. These endlessly fascinating objects are the gates where gravity meets quantum physics. Since the pioneering work of scientists like S. Hawking, black holes have become ‘theoretical laboratories’ to explore new physics theories. I discuss how the discovery of gravitational waves from black holes, and the first image of a black hole revealed in 2019, have transformed the study of black holes, and may soon lead to new ground-breaking discoveries. The Universe will disappear. Slowly, it will grow dimmer and dimmer, until it disappears completely.