Astronomy Picture of the Day

                         Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! [1] Each day a different image or photograph of our
 fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a
                           professional astronomer.

                                2019 April 14
                      Simulation: Two Black Holes Merge
         Simulation Credit: Simulating eXtreme Spacetimes Project [2]

Explanation: Sit back and watch two black holes merge. Inspired by the first
direct detection [3]  of gravitational waves in 2015, this simulation video
plays [4]  in slow motion but would take about one third of a second if run in
real time. Set on a cosmic stage the black holes are posed in front of stars,
gas, and dust. Their extreme gravity lenses the light from behind [5]  them
into Einstein rings [6] as they spiral closer and finally merge into one. The
otherwise invisible gravitational waves [7]  generated as the massive objects
rapidly coalesce cause the visible image to ripple and slosh both inside and
outside the Einstein rings [8]  even after the black holes [9]  have merged.
Dubbed GW150914 [10] , the gravitational waves detected by LIGO [11]  are
consistent with the merger of 36 and 31 solar mass black holes at a distance
of 1.3 billion light-years. The final, single black hole has 63 times the mass
of the Sun [12] , with the remaining 3 solar masses converted into energy in
gravitational waves [13] . Since then the LIGO [14]  and VIRGO [15]
gravitational wave observatories have reported several more [16]  detections
of merging massive systems, while last week the Event Horizon Telescope [17]
reported the first horizon-scale image [18]  of a black hole.

                      Tomorrow's picture: jovian mirage

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    Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff [30] (MTU [31] ) & Jerry Bonnell [32]
                                  (UMCP [33] )
          NASA Official:  Phillip Newman Specific rights apply [34] .
              NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices [35]
              A service of: ASD [36]  at NASA [37]  / GSFC [38]
                           & Michigan Tech. U. [39]
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Site notes:
  [1] archivepix.html
  [2] http://www.black-holes.org/
  [3] https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/news/ligo2016021...
  [4] https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/video/ligo201602...
  [5] ap141026.html
  [6] ap080728.html
  [7] https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/page/what-are-gw
  [8] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein_ring
  [9]
https://www.black-holes.org/the-science-numer...
numerical-relativity/gravitational-lensing
  [10] http://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/ PhysRevLett.116.061102
  [11] ap160211.html
  [12] https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/solar-system/sun...
  [13] https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/page/gravitation...
  [14] https://www.ligo.org/
  [15] http://www.virgo-gw.eu/
  [16] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_gravita...
  [17] https://eventhorizontelescope.org/
  [18] ap190411.html
  [19] ap190413.html
  [20] archivepix.html
  [21] lib/apsubmit2015.html
  [22] lib/aptree.html
  [23] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apo...
  [24] calendar/allyears.html
  [25] /apod.rss
  [26] lib/edlinks.html
  [27] lib/about_apod.html
  [28] http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?dat...
  [29] ap190415.html
  [30] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  [31] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  [32] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnel...
  [33] http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  [34] lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  [35] https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Priv...
  [36] https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  [37] https://www.nasa.gov/
  [38] https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  [39] http://www.mtu.edu/

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