Podcast: Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity

If you remember way back to Episode 9, we covered Einstein’s Theory of Special Relativity. Well, that’s only half of the relativity picture. The great scientist made an even more profound impact on physics with his theory of general relativity, replacing Newton with a better model for gravity. Click here to download the episode Einstein’s …

Gravastars are an Alternative Theory to Black Holes. Here's What They'd Look Like

Astronomers continue to find more and more evidence of black holes, but there’s an alternative theory that could explain the observations: gravastars. First proposed in 2001, these objects are one possible solution to Einstein’s field equations, having the same impact on the Universe. But they won’t have an event horizon or singularity. Instead, they’d contain thin shells of matter surrounding an exotic dark energy that pushes back against the star’s gravitational force.