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NASA Explains Light Behavior at Black Hole's Photon Sphere
Confirmed
In Short: The segment features a movie clip illustrating how light behaves at the photon sphere. 'You currently sit at the black hole's photon sphere, where light can travel endlessly in a circle due to the star's great gravitational pull,' explains the video.
NASA's latest segment, 'Looking Up at the Photon Sphere,' delves into the unique properties of the photon sphere, a region around black holes where light can travel in perpetual circles due to the intense gravitational pull.
According to NASA, the photon sphere is the boundary where light can orbit the black hole endlessly. Any light that crosses this boundary cannot escape and travel outward.
The segment features a movie clip illustrating how light behaves at the photon sphere. 'You currently sit at the black hole's photon sphere, where light can travel endlessly in a circle due to the star's great gravitational pull,' explains the video.
The apparent position of the photon sphere is described as the dividing line between the black hole and the sky. 'Stars approaching the exact other side of the black hole from you appear to approach this line, are greatly magnified, and move with high angular speeds,' notes the video.
As one moves closer to the black hole, the sky appears to distort in unusual ways. 'As you circle the black hole, the sky appears to move in strange ways,' the video states.
The segment also highlights the phenomenon of starlight being bent around the black hole. 'Light paths are so curved that light can reach you from anywhere on the sky—even from behind the black hole—no part of the sky is eclipsed,' explains the video.
The video further demonstrates how starlight that has fallen into the black hole to reach an observer becomes more energetic, appearing 'blueshifted.' 'Starlight from these stars has been bent around the far side of the black hole,' the video notes.
The segment concludes by emphasizing the mystery of what lies beyond the event horizon. 'Nobody really knows what it looks like inside a black hole, on the other side of the event horizon,' the video concludes.
What this adds
The segment adds new insights into the behavior of light and stars near the photon sphere, expanding on previous WarpBeat coverage of the topic.
Background
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.
What's confirmed
- NASA's latest segment, 'Looking Up at the Photon Sphere,' delves into the unique properties of the photon sphere, a region around black holes where light can travel in perpetual circles due to the intense gravitational pull.
- According to NASA, the photon sphere is the boundary where light can orbit the black hole endlessly. Any light that crosses this boundary cannot escape and travel outward.
- The segment features a movie clip illustrating how light behaves at the photon sphere. 'You currently sit at the black hole's photon sphere, where light can travel endlessly in a circle due to the star's great gravitational pull,' explains the video.
- The apparent position of the photon sphere is described as the dividing line between the black hole and the sky. 'Stars approaching the exact other side of the black hole from you appear to approach this line, are greatly magnified, and move with high angular speeds,' notes the video.
- As one moves closer to the black hole, the sky appears to distort in unusual ways. 'As you circle the black hole, the sky appears to move in strange ways,' the video states.
- The segment also highlights the phenomenon of starlight being bent around the black hole. 'Light paths are so curved that light can reach you from anywhere on the sky—even from behind the black hole—no part of the sky is eclipsed,' explains the video.
- The video further demonstrates how starlight that has fallen into the black hole to reach an observer becomes more energetic, appearing 'blueshifted.' 'Starlight from these stars has been bent around the far side of the black hole,' the video notes.
- The segment concludes by emphasizing the mystery of what lies beyond the event horizon. 'Nobody really knows what it looks like inside a black hole, on the other side of the event horizon,' the video concludes.
What's still developing
- Our beautiful big round ball of a planet is not, in fact, a perfect sphere.
- Here an Einstein ring for background stars can be seen as an invisible line above the photon sphere horizon.
- A photon could leave the back of your head, go once around the black hole, and be seen by your eye - you can see the back of your head.
- As one background star image is greatly magnified, so is another 180 degrees around the black hole - but with your current point of view you can see only one at a time.
- A lways, they are mesmerising: whether they are black kites wheeling 2,000 feet high, lazily circling on thermals, their flight feathers splayed out, minute twists of the tail steering them or ducks and parakeets streaking across like squadrons of jet fighters or shrieking missiles.
- The first frame shows a background sky highly distorted by the black hole in the center.
- Back to Virtual Trips to Black Holes and Neutron Stars Page NASA explores the unknown in air and space, innovates for the benefit of humanity, and inspires the world through discovery.
- The first frame is dark as you peer into the black hole itself.
- As before, from this orientation, the black hole's enormous gravity bends light to make two discernible images of the constellation Orion.