Peering Inside Space-Time
First black hole photograph (credit: National Science Foundation)
Even the giant of 20th Century physics, Albert Einstein, thought black holes were improbable even as his 1915 Theory of General Relativity had predicted them. They remained theoretical objects until 1971 when the first black hole was discovered providing proof for his theory. The first photograph of a black hole was just captured in a galaxy thousands of light years distant. It has gained gained worldwide acclaim. Now, NASA's Goddard Space Center has taken the raw measurements acquired from the deep-space observations of the event horizon and created a visualization of the data to show what the black hole would look like if you were approaching the vortex.
Black Hole Visualization (credits: Goddard Space Center/Jeremy Schnittman)
According to NASA, in the visualization the black hole is seen nearly edgewise with a turbulent disk of gas churning around it in a double-humped appearance. The black hole’s extreme gravity alters the paths of light coming from different parts of the disk, producing the warped image. The gravitational field redirects and distorts light so exactly what is seen depends on the viewing angle. Goddard's Jeremy Schnittman, the creator of the animation said:
"Simulations and movies like these really help us see what Einstein meant when he said that gravity warps the fabric of space and time. Until very recently, these visualizations were limited to our imagination. I never thought that it would be possible to see a real black hole."
On April 10, 2019 the Event Horizon Telescope captured a black hole’s shadow at the heart of the M87 galaxy. The data is now visualized for everyone to see.
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