Can you travel from one part of the Cosmos to another in the blink of an eye? If you slip down a wormhole you can…

A well known ingredient of science fiction, the wormhole is one of the most menacing and mysterious things in space. They provide a quick way to traverse vast expanses of space without the passage of time. Any physicists will say “That’s preposterous!”, but is it really?

Einstein's Theory of General Relativity created the possibility for their existence. He came up with an amazing idea that mass warps space, and the bigger the mass, the more space will be bent. Theoretically, a wormhole could be formed when two or more massive bodies warp space and the fabric of space collides, forming a tunnel between distant places.

The existence of wormholes is still debatable. If they do exist they could be very short-lived, and may not even survive long enough for a spacecraft to reach the other side. And if the spaceship did make it, its mass might cause the wormhole to snap shut, cutting the astronauts off for good.

 Scary stuff!

• A more detailed look at the mechanics of time travel
• Wormholes: Questions and Answers
• Read about other holes found in space
• Relativity in visual form