Approaching a Supermassive Black Hole (IMAGE)
Caption
Detail from a 360-degree visualization that follows a simulated camera into a non-rotating supermassive black hole similar to the one located at the center of our Milky Way galaxy. In this perspective, the camera is closing on the event horizon, the black hole’s point of no return. A hot, glowing gas disk surrounding the black hole appears as a thick orange arc. Both above and below it appear distorted images of the background sky, warped by the effects of relativity. A thin orange arc below marks photon rings, which are images of the disk produced by light that has orbited the black hole one or more times before reaching the camera. Structures in the direction of travel, at center, brighten greatly due to relativity effects caused by the camera’s motion, which is now approaching the speed of light.
Credit
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/J. Schnittman and B. Powell
Usage Restrictions
No restrictions.
License
Public Domain