 Blowing up (algebraic geometry)

The projective morphism ${\mathrm{Proj}}_X{⨁}_{j\ge 0}{\mathcal{I}}^j\to X$ associated to the powers of the ideal sheaf of a closed centre. Off that centre it is an isomorphism. Blowing up a smooth point of an $n$-dimensional smooth variety replaces the point by a projective space ${\mathbb{P}}^{n-1}$, the algebraic exceptional divisor.