NASA Science has presented a computer-generated animation showing what an observer would see when travelling toward a black hole.
The sequence begins with an observer positioned in empty space looking toward the constellation Orion. Several prominent stellar reference points, including Orion's belt, Sirius, and Betelgeuse, are visible across the initial frame.
Deflection of background light
In the simulation, the black hole presents as a dark circle from which light cannot escape. Although black holes release a slight bit of light as they evaporate as postulated by Hawking, the central object remains visually black against space.
As the observer draws nearer, the black hole's powerful gravitational field deflects incoming starlight. This gravitational lensing pushes the original star images away from their standard visual positions. At the same time, the gravitational pull brings secondary, dimmer images of stars around from the far side of the black hole into view.
The computer-generated sequence concludes by stopping the observer at a distance of 42 kilometres from the black hole.
