Wonderful BH animation on APOD

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In summary, the animation showed optical effects of two black holes that are very far apart from each other. The animation is sped up and does not seem to show time or actual orbits.
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anorlunda
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Very cool. Did they also make their equations available somewhere?
 
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Also, I looked but could not find if the speed of the animation is real-time, or sped up. Did anybody see if they mentioned that?
 
  • #4
berkeman said:
Also, I looked but could not find if the speed of the animation is real-time, or sped up. Did anybody see if they mentioned that?
My impression is that there is no attempt to show time or actual orbits. The objects in the animation never really merge or spiral inward. The purpose was to show optical effects.
 
  • #5
It is almost certainly solved numerically and it is certainly sped up. These black holes are severla light minutes across.
 
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anorlunda said:
My impression is that there is no attempt to show time or actual orbits. The objects in the animation never really merge or spiral inward. The purpose was to show optical effects.
The holes aren't that close. The center to center distance is something like ten times the diameter of the inner bright ring around the larger hole. That ring is at the photon sphere, so the holes are something like thirty times the Schwarzschild radius of the larger hole distant from one another (I know they're Kerr holes, but back of the envelope). I don't think approximating the orbits as Newtonian is completely crazy at this level of hand waving, and that gives an orbital period of several hours. So definitely sped up.

I'm not sure how much time solving Einstein's Field Equations numerically would require in this case. The blurb reckons they used 2% of a 129,000 processor cluster for a day, or a little over 60,000 hours of computer time. That seems a little bit steep to me for just ray tracing (even nice high-res ray tracing in curved spacetime), so I lean towards it being a proper simulation (although that's, at best, only a partially educated guess).
 

1. What is the "Wonderful BH animation" on APOD?

The "Wonderful BH animation" on APOD refers to the featured animation on NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day website, showcasing a simulation of a black hole's accretion disk and jets.

2. How was the "Wonderful BH animation" created?

The animation was created using data from the Event Horizon Telescope and simulations from the BlackHoleCam team. The data was then processed and combined to create a realistic visualization of a black hole's accretion disk and jets.

3. What is the significance of the "Wonderful BH animation"?

The animation provides a visual representation of the complex and dynamic behavior of black holes, which are one of the most mysterious and fascinating objects in the universe. It also helps scientists and the general public better understand the physics behind black holes.

4. Can the "Wonderful BH animation" be used for scientific research?

While the animation is not a direct representation of any specific black hole, it is based on real data and can be used by scientists as a tool for further research and study of black holes.

5. Is the "Wonderful BH animation" accurate?

Yes, the animation is based on real data and simulations, making it a scientifically accurate representation of a black hole's accretion disk and jets. However, it should be noted that the visuals are an artist's interpretation and not an actual photograph of a black hole.

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