Researchers created a virtual reality simulation of a supermassive black hole

Scientists from Radboud University, the Netherlands, and Goethe University, Germany, used recent astrophysical models of Sagittarius A * to create a series of images that were later gathered to create a 360-degree simulation of the black hole, in virtual reality, which can be viewed on a large scale. VR consoles available. The authors suggest that this virtual reality simulation might be useful for studying black holes.

Jordy Davelaar, Corresponding Author, said: "Our virtual reality simulation creates one of the most realistic views of the black hole's direct environment and will help us learn more about the behavior of black holes. Getting to a black hole in our lives is impossible, immersive visualizations like this can help us learn more about these systems from where we are. "

The authors also suggest that virtual reality simulation could help encourage the general public, including children, to be interested in astrophysics.

Davelaar said, "The visualizations we produced have great radiation potential, we used them to introduce kids to the black hole phenomenon, they really learned something about it, and that suggests that immersive visualizations in virtual reality are an excellent tool to show our work to a wider audience even when there are very complex systems like black holes. "

Heino Falcke, a professor at Radboud University, adds: "We all have in mind the so-called aspect of black holes, but science has progressed and we can now produce much more accurate renderings.These black holes are very different from what we are, these new visualizations are only the beginning, more to come in the future. "

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Image: Prime of the black hole captured in the center of the Milky Way

More information:
Jordy Davelaar et al, Observing supermassive black holes in virtual reality, Computational Astrophysics and Cosmology (2018). DOI: 10.1186 / s40668-018-0023-7