What if there were a safe way to approach a black hole, like in the movie Interstellar? It would probably look something like this NASA visualization. This simulated black hole is surrounded by accumulated matter being pulled toward it, and the particles are in a thin accretion disk, where the swirling pace nears the speed of light, thus heating up the material, causing it to glow, while the outer part of the disk spins at a slower rate. Read more for the video and additional information.
Why does the light appear in different wavelengths? This is due to the black hole’s gravity, which causes its skewed appearance, as the fast rate near the center of the black hole and slower rate on the outside of the disc clash, pulling the light into different lanes.
Simulations and movies like these really help us visualize what Einstein meant when he said that gravity warps the fabric of space and time. Until very recently, these visualizations were limited to our imagination and computer programs. I never thought that it would be possible to see a real black hole,” said Jeremy Schnittman, who generated the image at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.