Season 1 · Session 07
The Shadow of a Black Hole
Everyone's answers, live. —
Checking whether you're signed in…
Sign in to see the wall. Any member can read it. Sign in with Google or make a username if you don't have one. Make a username or sign in →
Live Session Message Board
- No comments yet. They appear the moment they're posted.
What are we actually seeing when we 'see' a black hole?
- Nothing yet. Answers appear here the moment they're saved.
The black hole itself is invisible. We only see the ring of light bent around it and the shadow it casts. In what sense have we 'seen' it, and in what sense haven't we?
- Nothing yet. Answers appear here the moment they're saved.
No telescope on Earth could resolve this alone, so we turned the whole planet into one camera. What does it mean that the limit was never the glass, but how far apart our detectors sat and how precisely we could time them?
- Nothing yet. Answers appear here the moment they're saved.
Past the event horizon, physicists say 'outward' stops being a direction and falling inward becomes as unavoidable as moving into the future. What would it even mean for a direction in space to become a direction in time?
- Nothing yet. Answers appear here the moment they're saved.
How do you feel about this science and its understanding of reality?
- Nothing yet. Answers appear here the moment they're saved.
← → to move · A shows all · F fullscreen · Esc leaves wall mode