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Looking Up at the Photon Sphere
Confirmed
In Short: The agency's latest segment, 'Looking Up at the Photon Sphere,' illustrates the unique properties of this area around black holes, where light is trapped in a perpetual orbit.
NASA has released new insights into the behavior of light near black holes, focusing on the photon sphere, a region where light can only travel inward and never outward once it crosses this boundary.
NASA's previous segment, 'Circling the Black Hole at the Photon Sphere,' complements this new release by detailing the dynamics of light as it approaches and interacts with the photon sphere.
According to NASA, the photon sphere is a critical boundary where light bends so sharply that it forms a circular path around the black hole.
In a related development, ScienceAlert noted that Earth, while often depicted as a perfect sphere, is actually slightly deformed due to its rotation, though this deformation is barely noticeable.
What this adds
The deformation of Earth due to its rotation is a separate topic from the photon sphere, but both illustrate the effects of physical forces on objects in space.
What's confirmed
- NASA has released new insights into the behavior of light near black holes, focusing on the photon sphere, a region where light can only travel inward and never outward once it crosses this boundary.
- NASA's previous segment, 'Circling the Black Hole at the Photon Sphere,' complements this new release by detailing the dynamics of light as it approaches and interacts with the photon sphere.
- According to NASA, the photon sphere is a critical boundary where light bends so sharply that it forms a circular path around the black hole.
- In a related development, ScienceAlert noted that Earth, while often depicted as a perfect sphere, is actually slightly deformed due to its rotation, though this deformation is barely noticeable.
What's still developing
- Our beautiful big round ball of a planet is not, in fact, a perfect sphere.
- This deformation is subtle – looking at a picture of Earth from space, it's not even remotely discernible to most eyes – but it is a known and normal result of rotational physics.