Echoes of a black hole

Simulations of the light echoes off of the accretion disk around a maximally spinning (“Kerr”) black hole. Sound computed by Dr. Kyle Keane, MIT Quest for Intelligence , and Prof. Erin Kara, MIT Physics Department . Animation computed by Michal Dovciak, ASU CAS. The white circle indicates the location of the black hole event horizon, and the echoes of light are color-coded by their observed frequency, which can be distorted by Doppler shifts and by the strong gravity of the black hole. The simulation has been sonified such that lower frequency light corresponds to a lower pitch sound. (Learn more: ) Watch more videos from MIT: The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is an independent, coeducational, privately endowed university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Our mission is to advance knowledge; to educate students in science, engineering, technology, humanities and social sciences; and to tackle the most pressing problems facing the world today. We are a community of hands-on problem-solvers in love with fundamental science and eager to make the world a better place. The MIT YouTube channel features videos about all types of MIT research, including the robot cheetah, LIGO, gravitational waves, mathematics, and bombardier beetles, as well as videos on origami, time capsules, and other aspects of life and culture on the MIT campus. Our goal is to open the doors of MIT and bring the Institute to the world through video.