Scientists at the Goddard Space Flight Center have processed video of an astronaut’s journey into a black hole
NASA recently released an extraordinarily detailed visualization, the result of a simulation performed on the Discover supercomputer at the NASA Center for Climate Simulation. This graphic representation offers a scenario in which a camera, the symbol of a daring astronaut, crosses the event horizon of a supermassive black hole, ideally located at the center of our galaxy, the Milky Way. The black hole in question has a mass 4.3 million times that of our Sun and, to simplify the complex calculations necessary, it has been represented as non-rotating.
The simulation immerses itself in a flat, swirling cloud of hot, bright gas, known as an accretion disk, which surrounds the black hole and serves as a visual reference as it falls. Other bright structures, called photon rings, form closer to the black hole from light that has orbited it one or more times. A starry panorama, as seen from Earth, completes the scene, providing breathtaking cosmic context.
The project generated about 10 terabytes of data, which is equivalent to about half the estimated textual content of the Library of Congress. The Discover supercomputer, using just 0.3% of its 129,000 processors, completed this task in just five days; an achievement that would have taken more than a decade if accomplished on a conventional laptop.
The simulation begins with the camera approaching the event horizon. As camera time slows compared to that of a distant observer, light sources directly ahead begin to shine brightly. The camera, traveling at a speed that requires a slow view in the simulation, heads towards the far side of the photon ring.
The final stage of the journey shows the camera as it begins its 10-minute descent towards the event horizon, a point beyond which light from the outside universe can still enter but can no longer exit. Microseconds after crossing the event horizon, the camera is destroyed, reaching the singularity, the incomprehensible heart of the black hole.
The simulation not only illustrates the fate of a hypothetical astronaut but also offers an incredibly detailed visual representation of photon rings, which appear as distorted bands of gas disk interspersed among the starry background sky. Each subsequent band is thinner, produced by photons that have made a further journey around the black hole before reaching the camera.
This extraordinary virtual experiment not only pushes the boundaries of scientific visualization but also opens new doors to understanding the deepest mysteries of the universe.
- Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center /J. Schnittman and B. Powell
- Producer: Scott Wiessinger (KBR Wyle Services, LLC)
- Visualizer:Jeremy Schnittman (NASA/GSFC)
- Science writer: Francis Reddy (University of Maryland College Park)
- Computer support: Brian Powell (NASA/GSFC)
- Editor: Scott Wiessinger (KBR Wyle Services, LLC)
