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black holes

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Einstein's theory was wrong about black holes made out of light

The theory of relativity predicts black holes should be able to form from light alone, but incorporating quantum effects makes it impossible

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Odd black holes smaller than protons may have once littered the cosmos

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What would a wormhole look like if we ever found one?

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What "naked" singularities are revealing about quantum space-time

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Wormholes could blast out blazing hot plasma at incredible speeds

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'Unluckiest star' may be trapped in deadly dance with a black hole

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This new visualization of a black hole illustrates how its gravity distorts our view, warping its surroundings as if seen in a carnival mirror. The visualization simulates the appearance of a black hole where infalling matter has collected into a thin, hot structure called an accretion disk. The black hole?s extreme gravity skews light emitted by different regions of the disk, producing the misshapen appearance. Bright knots constantly form and dissipate in the disk as magnetic fields wind and twist through the churning gas. Nearest the black hole, the gas orbits at close to the speed of light, while the outer portions spin a bit more slowly. This difference stretches and shears the bright knots, producing light and dark lanes in the disk. Viewed from the side, the disk looks brighter on the left than it does on the right. Glowing gas on the left side of the disk moves toward us so fast that the effects of Einstein?s relativity give it a boost in brightness; the opposite happens on the right side, where gas moving away us becomes slightly dimmer. This asymmetry disappears when we see the disk exactly face on because, from that perspective, none of the material is moving along our line of sight. Closest to the black hole, the gravitational light-bending becomes so excessive that we can see the underside of the disk as a bright ring of light seemingly outlining the black hole. This so-called ?photon ring? is composed of multiple rings, which grow progressively fainter and thinner, from light that has circled the black hole two, three, or even more times before escaping to reach our eyes. Because the black hole modeled in this visualization is spherical and non-rotating, the photon ring looks nearly circular and identical from any viewing angle. Inside the photon ring is the black hole?s shadow, an area roughly twice the size of the event horizon ? its point of no return. This visualization is ?mass invariant,? which means it can represent a black hole of any mass. The size of the black hole's shadow is proportional to its mass, but so is the size of the accreetion disk, so its properties scale accordingly. Simulations and movies like these really help us visualize what Einstein meant when he said that gravity warps the fabric of space and time.

Physics

How the weird and powerful pull of black holes made me a physicist

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Primordial black holes crossing stars, orbit figures.

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Tiny black holes hiding in the sun could trace out stunning patterns

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Black hole in deep space

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Einstein was right about the way matter plunges into black holes

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Space

How could we give boring blobby galaxies a new, exciting shape?

Galaxies could do with a few more arms or some decorative designs – on this episode of Dead Planets Society, our hosts are using collisions, black holes and dark matter to reshape our galaxy

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Black holes scramble information – but may not be the best at it

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A view of a supernova explosion with its bright light and shockwave visible; Shutterstock ID 2298465659; purchase_order: -; job: -; client: -; other: -

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Kill the sun! How wild thought experiments drive scientific discovery

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Artists impression of a black hole

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Supermassive black holes may provide a nursery for mini ones to grow

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Black hole and a disk of glowing plasma. 3d render. 3D Illustration; Shutterstock ID 2249279765; purchase_order: -; job: -; client: -; other: -

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How to destroy a black hole

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