For centuries, scientists imagined objects so heavy and dense that their gravity might be strong enough to pull anything in – including light. They would be, quite literally, a black hole in space.

But it’s only in the past few decades that astronomers have conclusively proved their existence.

Today, Hubble lets scientists measure the effects of black holes, make images of their surroundings and glean fascinating insights into the evolution of our cosmos.

Credit:

ESA/Hubble

Visual design and editing: Martin Kornmesser
Animations: Martin Kornmesser and Luis Calçada
Written by: Oli Usher and Sarah Reed
Presented by: Joe Liske (Dr J)
Narrator: Gaitee Hussain
Images: NASA, ESA, ESO, Sloan Digital Sky Survey (David W. Hogg, Michael R. Blanton), Lockheed Martin, Google.
Music: movetwo
Directed by: Oli Usher
Executive producer: Lars Lindberg Christensen

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