by APOD Robot » Sun Apr 14, 2019 4:07 am
Simulation: Two Black Holes Merge
Explanation: Sit back and watch two black holes merge. Inspired by the first
direct detection of gravitational waves in 2015,
this simulation video plays in slow motion but would take about one third of a second if run in real time. Set on a cosmic stage the black holes are posed in front of stars, gas, and dust. Their extreme gravity lenses the light
from behind them into
Einstein rings as they spiral closer and finally merge into one. The otherwise invisible
gravitational waves generated as the massive objects rapidly coalesce cause the visible image to ripple and slosh both inside and outside the
Einstein rings even after the
black holes have merged.
Dubbed GW150914, the gravitational waves
detected by LIGO are consistent with the merger of 36 and 31 solar mass black holes at a distance of 1.3 billion light-years. The final, single black hole has 63 times the mass of the
Sun, with the remaining 3 solar masses converted into energy in
gravitational waves. Since then the
LIGO and
VIRGO gravitational wave observatories have reported
several more detections of merging massive systems, while last week the
Event Horizon Telescope reported the
first horizon-scale image of a black hole.
[url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190414.html] [img]https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_190414.jpg[/img] [size=150]Simulation: Two Black Holes Merge[/size][/url]
[b] Explanation: [/b] Sit back and watch two black holes merge. Inspired by the first [url=https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/news/ligo20160211]direct detection[/url] of gravitational waves in 2015, [url=https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/video/ligo20160211v3]this simulation video plays[/url] in slow motion but would take about one third of a second if run in real time. Set on a cosmic stage the black holes are posed in front of stars, gas, and dust. Their extreme gravity lenses the light [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap141026.html]from behind[/url] them into [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080728.html]Einstein rings[/url] as they spiral closer and finally merge into one. The otherwise invisible [url=https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/page/what-are-gw]gravitational waves[/url] generated as the massive objects rapidly coalesce cause the visible image to ripple and slosh both inside and outside the [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein_ring]Einstein rings[/url] even after the [url=https://www.black-holes.org/the-science-numerical-relativity/numerical-relativity/gravitational-lensing]black holes[/url] have merged. [url=http://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.061102]Dubbed GW150914[/url], the gravitational waves [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap160211.html]detected by LIGO[/url] are consistent with the merger of 36 and 31 solar mass black holes at a distance of 1.3 billion light-years. The final, single black hole has 63 times the mass of the [url=https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/solar-system/sun/overview/]Sun[/url], with the remaining 3 solar masses converted into energy in [url=https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/page/gravitational-waves]gravitational waves[/url]. Since then the [url=https://www.ligo.org/]LIGO[/url] and [url=http://www.virgo-gw.eu/]VIRGO[/url] gravitational wave observatories have reported [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_gravitational_wave_observations]several more[/url] detections of merging massive systems, while last week the [url=https://eventhorizontelescope.org/]Event Horizon Telescope[/url] reported the [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190411.html]first horizon-scale image[/url] of a black hole.
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