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Text with the video:
The LIGO interferometer detected the merger of two black holes, each several dozen times the mass of our Sun. The video is very slowed down, because in reality everything only lasts a third of a second. To understand:
- The visible black regions are the “shadows” of black holes, from which no light escapes.
- The background (stars, gas, dust) is distorted by the curvature of space-time. This is the phenomenon of “gravitational lens”: light rays follow curved trajectories.
- As black holes merge, the warping of space-time changes the light patterns dramatically.
- The luminous ring (known as the “Einstein ring”) is formed by the light of a few stars directly behind. Light rays are “stretched” and “coiled” by the gigantic gravity of black holes. The black hole is the end of times.
Salukes
PS- Simulation carried out using Simulating eXtreme Spacetimes (SXS) Project: www.black-holes.org.