Run · The Shadow of a Black Hole

Settle in title

Season 1 · Session 07

The Shadow of a Black Hole

We photographed the edge of where light can't escape.

Prompt deck —

Use ↓ / ↑ to move between movements. → / ← steps the prompts. Space reveals on the wall.

Host notes, laptop only

Framing

We're not asking whether the image is 'really' a black hole. We're sitting with the strangeness that we can photograph the shadow of a thing that emits no light at all.

Opening question (Settle in)

What are we actually seeing when we 'see' a black hole?

The precise version (Watch)

On April 10, 2019, the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration published the first direct image of a black hole's shadow, the supermassive black hole M87*, approximately 6.5 billion solar masses at the center of galaxy M87, approximately 55 million light-years away. The bright ring in the image is produced by photons orbiting close to the photon sphere (at 1.5 times the Schwarzschild radius), with the dark center being the shadow cast by the event horizon. A second image of Sagittarius A* (the Milky Way's central black hole, approximately 4 million solar masses) was published in May 2022. Both images match general relativistic predictions.

If it wobbles

Confidently wrong — Don't correct the size claim head-on. Show the still. 'It's 6.5 billion solar masses but looks smaller than an orange on the Moon. How can both be true?' Let distance answer it.
Dead silence — Drop to the image. 'Just look at it for a second. That dark circle is a place light can't leave. What's the first question that raises for you?'
Runaway debate — Pull back. 'Hold the interpretation. Let's agree first on what the instrument actually recorded.'
Tipping into dogma — Name it. 'We're not settling what's inside. No information comes out. We're sitting with the edge, and with the fact that we can photograph it.'

Wrap — close on (LOCKED)

How do you feel about this science and its understanding of reality?

The Shadow of a Black Hole

Facilitator hotkeys