Disk spin
Ring measured
42 ± 3 μas
Shadow predicted
37 to 40 μas
Shadow size
about 100 billion km
View angle
17°
Gravity bends light around the hole: the dark shadow is where light falls in, and the bright ring around it is what the EHT measured.
Real: the masses, distances and ring sizes measured by the Event Horizon Telescope. Simulated: the glowing disk and its colours; the light bending is computed for a non-spinning black hole.
Data: Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration, ApJL 875 L1 and L6 (2019, M87*) and ApJL 930 L12 and L14 (2022, Sgr A*).
Details
Built by Gemini 4 Hydrogen from one prompt: Schwarzschild null-geodesic fragment-shader ray tracer (photon sphere at 3 GM/c², capture inside 2 GM/c², critical curve at b = 5.196, equatorial accretion disk from ISCO at 6 to 24 GM/c² with Doppler beaming and gravitational redshift, lensed procedural starfield and deep-blue glow), EHT M87* and Sgr A* preset data tables and microarcsecond comparison bar, 2D overlay circles with pinhole projection, interactive orbit/zoom and view-angle controls, synthesized Web Audio drone and effects with offline WAV rendering, and a 25-second guided tour.