For instance, the background is colored to be orange above the black hole and blue below it, but inside the “Einstein Ring” we see the colors are inverted, coming from opposite sides of the sky. Similarly, the color coding of the surrounding disk highlights the inverted view of the underside of the disk seen close to the black hole.", "items": [ { "id": 431188, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 1094135, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014600/a014619/5-Black_hole_grid_approach-4K.00001_print.jpg", "filename": "5-Black_hole_grid_approach-4K.00001_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "This abstract movie highlights the ways light is warped by the gravity of a black hole. It sits in an environment inscribed with latitude and longitude lines, and is orbited by a rainbow-colored disk. The colors can help interpret how light paths are affected by the black hole. For instance, the background is colored to be orange above the black hole and blue below it, but inside the “Einstein Ring” we see the colors are inverted, coming from opposite sides of the sky. Similarly, the color coding of the surrounding disk highlights the inverted view of the underside of the disk seen close to the black hole.", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "pixels": 589824 } }, { "id": 431179, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 1094125, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014600/a014619/5-Black_hole_grid_approach-HD.mp4", "filename": "5-Black_hole_grid_approach-HD.mp4", "media_type": "Movie", "alt_text": "This abstract movie highlights the ways light is warped by the gravity of a black hole. It sits in an environment inscribed with latitude and longitude lines, and is orbited by a rainbow-colored disk. The colors can help interpret how light paths are affected by the black hole. For instance, the background is colored to be orange above the black hole and blue below it, but inside the “Einstein Ring” we see the colors are inverted, coming from opposite sides of the sky. Similarly, the color coding of the surrounding disk highlights the inverted view of the underside of the disk seen close to the black hole.", "width": 1920, "height": 1080, "pixels": 2073600 } }, { "id": 431178, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 1094124, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014600/a014619/5-Black_hole_grid_approach-4K.mp4", "filename": "5-Black_hole_grid_approach-4K.mp4", "media_type": "Movie", "alt_text": "This abstract movie highlights the ways light is warped by the gravity of a black hole. It sits in an environment inscribed with latitude and longitude lines, and is orbited by a rainbow-colored disk. The colors can help interpret how light paths are affected by the black hole. For instance, the background is colored to be orange above the black hole and blue below it, but inside the “Einstein Ring” we see the colors are inverted, coming from opposite sides of the sky. Similarly, the color coding of the surrounding disk highlights the inverted view of the underside of the disk seen close to the black hole.", "width": 3840, "height": 2160, "pixels": 8294400 } }, { "id": 431177, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 1094123, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014600/a014619/5-Black_hole_grid_approach-4K.mov", "filename": "5-Black_hole_grid_approach-4K.mov", "media_type": "Movie", "alt_text": "This abstract movie highlights the ways light is warped by the gravity of a black hole. It sits in an environment inscribed with latitude and longitude lines, and is orbited by a rainbow-colored disk. The colors can help interpret how light paths are affected by the black hole. For instance, the background is colored to be orange above the black hole and blue below it, but inside the “Einstein Ring” we see the colors are inverted, coming from opposite sides of the sky. Similarly, the color coding of the surrounding disk highlights the inverted view of the underside of the disk seen close to the black hole.", "width": 3840, "height": 2160, "pixels": 8294400 } } ], "extra_data": {} }, { "id": 374797, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14619/#media_group_374797", "widget": "Video player", "title": "", "caption": "", "description": "This abstract movie highlights the ways light is warped by the gravity of a black hole. It sits in an environment inscribed with latitude and longitude lines, and is orbited by a rainbow-colored disk. The colors can help interpret how light paths are affected by the black hole.
For instance, the background is colored to be orange above the black hole and blue below it, but inside the “Einstein Ring” we see the colors are inverted, coming from opposite sides of the sky. Similarly, the color coding of the surrounding disk highlights the inverted view of the underside of the disk seen close to the black hole.
Note that as the camera moves above the black hole, the distortions of the disk are reduced, although the faint view of the opposite side of the disk remains, seen as a band just outside of the black hole shadow.", "items": [ { "id": 431189, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 1094136, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014600/a014619/6-Black_hole_grid_flyover-4K.00001_print.jpg", "filename": "6-Black_hole_grid_flyover-4K.00001_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "This abstract movie highlights the ways light is warped by the gravity of a black hole. It sits in an environment inscribed with latitude and longitude lines, and is orbited by a rainbow-colored disk. The colors can help interpret how light paths are affected by the black hole. For instance, the background is colored to be orange above the black hole and blue below it, but inside the “Einstein Ring” we see the colors are inverted, coming from opposite sides of the sky. Similarly, the color coding of the surrounding disk highlights the inverted view of the underside of the disk seen close to the black hole.Note that as the camera moves above the black hole, the distortions of the disk are reduced, although the faint view of the opposite side of the disk remains, seen as a band just outside of the black hole shadow.", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "pixels": 589824 } }, { "id": 431182, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 1094128, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014600/a014619/6-Black_hole_grid_flyover-HD.mp4", "filename": "6-Black_hole_grid_flyover-HD.mp4", "media_type": "Movie", "alt_text": "This abstract movie highlights the ways light is warped by the gravity of a black hole. It sits in an environment inscribed with latitude and longitude lines, and is orbited by a rainbow-colored disk. The colors can help interpret how light paths are affected by the black hole. For instance, the background is colored to be orange above the black hole and blue below it, but inside the “Einstein Ring” we see the colors are inverted, coming from opposite sides of the sky. Similarly, the color coding of the surrounding disk highlights the inverted view of the underside of the disk seen close to the black hole.Note that as the camera moves above the black hole, the distortions of the disk are reduced, although the faint view of the opposite side of the disk remains, seen as a band just outside of the black hole shadow.", "width": 1920, "height": 1080, "pixels": 2073600 } }, { "id": 431181, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 1094127, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014600/a014619/6-Black_hole_grid_flyover-4K.mp4", "filename": "6-Black_hole_grid_flyover-4K.mp4", "media_type": "Movie", "alt_text": "This abstract movie highlights the ways light is warped by the gravity of a black hole. It sits in an environment inscribed with latitude and longitude lines, and is orbited by a rainbow-colored disk. The colors can help interpret how light paths are affected by the black hole. 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The distortions seen in this image are due to the physics of general relativity, which informs us how the path of light is deflected in the presence of a gravitational field. The material forming a black hole has been compressed to densities so high that it is hidden within an “event horizon,” beyond which the gravitational field is so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape. Outside of this event horizon light paths will bend sharply, and even loop around the black hole, under the influence of the intense gravitational fields.The gravitational warping of the light from background stars is strong, creating the effect of a powerful lens. Light from the region directly behind the black hole forms an “Einstein Ring” that encircles the event horizon. Inside this ring we find an inverted view of the entire sky, which is increasingly distorted. The inner black disk is known as the black hole’s “shadow” which appears slightly larger than the actual location of the event horizon due to the distortion of the light paths.These illustrations depict what is known as a “Schwarzschild” black hole, made from material that had no overall rotation. A black hole created from rapidly spinning material retains a sense of this rotation and displays additional asymmetries not pictured here; this is known as a “Kerr” black hole.The appearance a black hole like this is “scale invariant,” meaning that the way light warps around it will appear the same, regardless of the mass of the object. The only thing that changes is the overall size of the distortions and shadow. Thus a black hole ten times as massive as the one shown here, viewed from ten times further away, would look exactly the same.These animations show qualitatively correct depictions of light distortion around a black hole that use a simplified optical model for the effect, rather than full general relativistic ray-tracing code. || ", "release_date": "2024-07-17T10:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2024-07-02T12:14:42.837491-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 1094159, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014600/a014620/1-Orbiting_a_bare_black_hole-4K.00001_print.jpg", "filename": "1-Orbiting_a_bare_black_hole-4K.00001_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "In this video the camera orbits around a bare black hole, getting closer to it over time. The black hole is only seen because of the way light warps around it. Note how an inverted view of the sky appears inside the “Einstein Ring” surrounding the black hole’s shadow. Features that are about to move into the left side of the frame can first be seen slowly moving away from the right side of the black hole’s shadow. ", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "pixels": 589824 } }, { "id": 14621, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14621/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "What is a black hole? Astro-Investigates Ep. 1", "description": "Black holes - what are they really? Learn this and more with “Astro-Investigates,” the video series that explores and explains big astrophysics topics with the help of NASA scientists. In this episode, you’ll hear from: Joanna Piotrowska - Astrophysicist at Caltech Varoujan Gorjian - NASA Research Astronomer Daniel Stern - NASA Astrophysicist Michele Vallisneri - NASA Theoretical physicist To learn more about black holes and NASA missions studying these mysterious objects, visit: [https://science.nasa.gov/universe/bla...](https://science.nasa.gov/universe/black-holes/) || JPL_Explainers_BH_FINAL.00096_print.jpg (1024x576) [76.6 KB] || JPL_Explainers_BH_FINAL.00096_searchweb.png (320x180) [61.4 KB] || JPL_Explainers_BH_FINAL.en_US.srt [9.2 KB] || JPL_Explainers_BH_FINAL.en_US.vtt [8.7 KB] || JPL_Explainers_BH_FINAL.mp4 (1920x1080) [812.8 MB] || JPL_Explainers_BH_FINAL_NoText.mp4 (1920x1080) [815.1 MB] || ", "release_date": "2024-07-17T10:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2024-07-22T09:57:54.712206-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 1095445, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014600/a014621/JPL_Explainers_BH_FINAL.00096_print.jpg", "filename": "JPL_Explainers_BH_FINAL.00096_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Black holes - what are they really? Learn this and more with “Astro-Investigates,” the video series that explores and explains big astrophysics topics with the help of NASA scientists. In this episode, you’ll hear from: Joanna Piotrowska - Astrophysicist at Caltech Varoujan Gorjian - NASA Research Astronomer Daniel Stern - NASA Astrophysicist Michele Vallisneri - NASA Theoretical physicist To learn more about black holes and NASA missions studying these mysterious objects, visit: [https://science.nasa.gov/universe/bla...](https://science.nasa.gov/universe/black-holes/)", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "pixels": 589824 } } ], "sources": [], "products": [ { "id": 14802, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14802/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "Earth to Space: A National Symphony Orchestra Concert", "description": "Explore the vastness of space with music inspired by the planets, stars, and beyond! In anticipation of the upcoming voyage of Artemis II, the National Symphony Orchestra celebrates the discoveries and beauty of space through music and images produced by NASA. Explore this page to learn more about the visuals used in the Kennedy Center's 2025 Earth to Space Festival NSO Family Concert.", "release_date": "2025-03-28T14:31:59-04:00", "update_date": "2025-03-28T14:31:07.685909-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 1095591, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014500/a014523/STScI-01EVT8F67B9Y3QAJ0DFB1KYQDT.jpg", "filename": "STScI-01EVT8F67B9Y3QAJ0DFB1KYQDT.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "This artist's concept shows how the universe might have looked when it was less than a billion years old, about 7 percent of its current age. Star formation voraciously consumed primordial hydrogen, churning out myriad stars at an unprecedented rate. NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will peer back to the universe’s early stages to understand how it transitioned from being opaque to the brilliant starscape we see today.\rCredit: NASA, ESA, and A. Schaller (for STScI)\rAlt text: This illustration depicts a mesmerizing and chaotic cosmic scene, filled with misshapen clumps and twists of white and purplish material on a black background. Most of the clumps are small, but a particularly large conglomeration extends from the lower-right of the frame up to the middle and nearly all the way across to the left side, sort of like billowing clouds. It's full of bulbous shapes outlined with glowing lavender tendrils. Bright groups of stars are concentrated in the center of each lobe, and also scattered more sparsely throughout the surrounding area.", "width": 3000, "height": 2375, "pixels": 7125000 } } ], "newer_versions": [], "older_versions": [], "alternate_versions": [] }