Without being able to really approach a black hole, this site allows you to move around it virtually, taking into account the gravitational lensing effect.
Sorry to break it to you so bluntly, but you can never approach a black hole. The force of attraction of the black hole would grab you, because even light cannot escape it. That’s why black holes are… black. Then you will turn into spaghetti.
But, thanks to the simulation coded by ScienceClic, alias Alessandro Roussel, from the YouTube channel of the same name, it is virtually possible. On this small site, you can play with a black hole, represented rather faithfully to our scientific knowledge of these cosmic objects.
The gravitational lens in action
The site allows you to zoom in on the black hole and move around it. The effect of “gravitational lensing” — the distortion of light caused by the extreme concentration of matter — is taken into account. It is undoubtedly this detail that is the most fascinating in this simulation, since by moving the mouse, we observe this strange effect in real time.
In a recent update, ScienceClic added the textured black hole accretion disk, which is the material orbiting the black hole. The author is still perfecting his simulation (the Doppler effect has not yet been added, for example).
Remember that the year 2022 marks a historic moment in the study of black holes: scientists have recovered the first photo of the supermassive black hole located at the heart of our galaxy. It is an exploit.