A NASA visualization allows us to travel beyond the event horizon of a black hole and experience the physics of the universe in an immersive way. It is an exciting journey that allows us to better understand black holes and their place in the universe.
In an effort to unravel the mysteries surrounding black holes, NASA has released a stunning visualization that takes us beyond the edge of human understanding.
This work of digital artcreated at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, shows us how the gravity of a black hole distorts our vision, twisting its surroundings as if looking in a funfair mirror.
Immersive visualization allows us to travel beyond the event horizonthe point of no return at which the black hole’s gravity is so strong that not even light can escape.
The visualization, produced on a supercomputer, takes us to a supermassive black hole with a mass of 4.3 million times that of the Sun, similar to the one found at the center of our galaxy, the Milky Way. Its event horizon covers about 25 million kilometers, a distance equivalent to 17% of the distance between the Earth and the Sun.
As we approach the black hole, we can feel how gravity increases and how the light becomes brighter and whiter as we approach the speed of light.
This immersive visualization produced on a NASA supercomputer depicts a scenario in which a camera (a stand-in for a daring astronaut) simply misses the event horizon and is ejected. One of the two scenarios contemplated in the simulation. POT.
Progressive approach
The experience begins with a panoramic view of the galaxy, with stars and planets moving in the background. The camera then zooms in on the black hole, and the ride becomes more and more intense.
Gravity increases, and the light becomes brighter and whiter. We can see how the matter that approaches the black hole heats up and becomes more luminous.
The visualization also allows us to see how the black hole’s rotation affects approaching matter.
Matter is attracted to the black hole, and its speed increases as it approaches. Eventually, the matter becomes so dense that it becomes a glowing plasma: it has accumulated into a thin, hot structure known as accretion disk.
The black hole’s extreme gravity skews the light emitted by different regions of the disk, producing a warped appearance.
Bright knots constantly form and dissipate in the disk as magnetic fields coil and twist through the boiling gas that is part of the accretion disk.
Dance of light and darkness
As it approaches the black hole, that gas orbits at close to the speed of light, while the outer portions of the black hole rotate a little more slowly. This difference stretches and tears the bright knots, creating lanes of light and darkness on the disc.
Seen almost edge-on, the turbulent disk of gas orbiting a black hole takes on a crazy bulging appearance due to light distortion.
The black hole’s extreme gravity not only redirects but also distorts light coming from different parts of the disk. However, what we see depends on our viewing angle, explains NASA.
shiny ring
The greatest distortion occurs when we observe the system almost edge-on. From this perspective, we can see the bottom of the disk as a bright ring of light that appears to outline the black hole.
This “photon ring” is composed of multiple rings, which become progressively dimmer and thinner, formed with light that has circled the black hole two, three or even more times before escaping to reach our eyes.
Within the ring of photons lies the shadow of the black hole, an area approximately twice the size of the event horizon, its point of no return.
Two scenarios
The genius behind this feat is Jeremy Schnittmana NASA astrophysicist, who has managed to simulate two shocking scenarios: one where a camera slides dangerously close to the event horizon and bounces, and another where it crosses that limit, sealing its fate in the depths of the black hole (this scenario does not is included in the display).
Schnittman reveals to us that, if we had the choice, we would prefer to fall into a supermassive black hole instead of a stellar one, since the latter, with masses up to 30 times that of our Sun, have smaller event horizons and stronger tidal forces. intense waves that can tear apart nearby objects before they reach the event horizon.
Better not to imagine it.
