The Collapse of Everything

Went to a planetarium show on black holes recently in which we learned that super-large and massive stars collapse and become stellar black holes. At the end of the show, there was a light-show representing the possibility of going through a stellar black hole at just the correct angle and  emerging from it in another universe,  another place and another when.

At the center of our galaxy is a super massive black hole. It was never stated at the show what might have collapsed to form this super massive black hole, only that it is there. It appears there is such a black hole at the center of our galaxy, and every galaxy.

I am left with a few questions:

What has collapsed to produce these super massive black holes? What is it about galaxy formation and on going galactic processes that requires them?

A Day In Venice

    One day during our trip to Venice, Italy, we visited the Frari, a grand church indeed. Among its treasures are paintings by Titian, “The Assumption of the Virgin," and the “Pesaro Altar Piece”.  In his guide book,  Rick Steves points out that the “Pesaro Altar Piece”  features portraits of the family members of Titian’s patrons. The family members are portrayed as being present at the assumption of Mary.  Rick Steves says that including families of patrons in religious works was common practice of painters at the time. One of Rick's tongue in cheek observations is that the men in the family all seem to have 5 o’clock shadows, easily seen in the portraits.

    Speaking of 5 o’clock shadows, when I played oboe in the Philadelphia all city high school band, my Italian band director always had a 5 o’clock shadow,  even at 10 am Saturday morning when the rehearsal began. During one rehearsal he became so incensed at our playing that he jumped off his stool and crashed onto the floor with a thud that shook the entire school building. This was the result of the floor being struck by the foot-to-hip cast that kept his broken leg and foot immobilized at the time.  That cast hit the floor like the hammer of Thor!  Not only did our band director survive this maneuver with his broken leg, but he then proceeded to throw his baton into the  clarinet section,  an act of amazing balance and precision, given his severely broken leg and foot. All this at 10 o'clock on a Saturday morning.