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Black Hole Art for Nobel Prize Winner

November 5, 2020 by Nicolle Fuller Leave a Comment

Black Hole Art Celebrating Andrea Ghez’s Nobel Prize

blue star edge black hole
A view of the blue star as it travels around the black hole at different time points. When it’s near the edge, the light we see shifts to green, then red. Illustration created for Dr. Ghez @ UCLA, by Nicolle R. Fuller for NSF

I am so humbled (and psyched!)… I can now say that I’ve created black hole art for a Nobel Prize winner! But really, I’m not here to boast, I’m here to congratulate Dr. Ghez for her incredible work and her well-deserved Nobel Prize in Physics. As a woman science communicator, I am thrilled to see Dr. Ghez become 1 of 4 women recognized with the physics Nobel Prize. (Compare that to 216 men!). Congratulations to Dr. Ghez (UCLA) for her 2020 Physics Nobel Prize award, along with colleague Renhard Genzel (UBC). They discovered the black hole, Sagittarius A*, lying at the center of our Milky Way galaxy. The award is shared with theoretical physicist Roger Penrose who mathematically connected Einstein’s theory of Relativity to black holes.

Illustration of Black Hole for Physics Nobel Prize Research

sketch black hole
Rough sketch by Nicolle R. Fuller drawn for Dr. Ghez’s black hole art, which was developed into a full 3D illustration and animation.

Through the National Science Foundation, I worked with Dr. Ghez and lab member Tuan Do to illustrate their observations of a lone star’s travel to the edge of the black hole and back again. Over almost 2 decades, her research group tracked the star S2 as it orbits near the very edge of the black hole. The 2018 astronomical paper confirmed their observations from 14 years earlier, now with even better observation capabilities.

Their incredible discovery was stunning to the astronomy world, but to the average viewer, the results weren’t as visually compelling. To do their research justice, I worked with them to create a 3D illustration to capture some of the excitement of the discovery. Beyond drawing a star near a black hole, I had another layer of interest to add. Sometimes science hands you guidelines on how to make art appealing. In this case I had an excuse to draw a rainbow of colors! The S2 star comes so close to tumbling into the black hole, that some of its light is bent. The light we see color-shifts, changing from blue, to red, to green. This color shift is what verified that Sagittarius A* is a black hole. I created several different views, plus an animation, to highlight the research.

Animation of Star Circling Our Galaxy’s Black Hole

Get Sucked in… More Black Hole Illustrations

Over the years, I’ve gotten to work on some stellar black hole pieces. In the gallery below I’ve collected a few of the black hole illustrations created for Dr. Ghez, as well as more black hole art from other projects. The science-art gallery below contains:

  • EHT Black Hole photo
    The actual image of a black hole from the Event Horizon Telescope (Event Horizon Telescope collaboration et al.). It’s an AMAZING scientific accomplishment and a very cool image, but in the gallery of science art below, you can see how illustration(s) added value by showing details we can’t otherwise imagine.

    The illustration of the S2 blue star as it travels around the black hole at different time points. (Image free to use, download here!)

  • Another view of S2 as it travels around the black hole. From this angle, we can see the elliptical shape of the orbit. (Image free to use, download here!)
  • This 3D illustration of the black hole at the center of the Milky Way was drawn for Sky & Telescope.
  • Another NSF funded project, the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), produced the first true image of the black hole. My visualizations shows the full accretion disc surrounding the black hole center.
  • A drawing showing a top-down view of the black hole, and the swirling plasma surrounding it. (Image free to use, download here!)
  • Have you ever wondered where the strange donut image of the black hole comes from? This science illustration shows how photons are bent around the black hole.

blue star edge black hole NSF-blackhole-Ghez-NRFuller
black hole art blackhole-star-ghez-NRFuller
The black hole saggitarius A at the center of our galaxy, illustrated by Nicolle R. Fuller SayoStudio. blackhole-stars-milkyway-NRFuller
black hole accretion disc jet EHT-blackhole-NSF-NRFuller
black hole accretion disc EHT-NSF-accretiondisk-topdown-NRFuller
photons bent around blakc hole photon-shadow-blackhole-NSF-NRFuller

Black Hole Animation of Event Horizon Telescope Discovery for the National Science Foundation

 

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Related posts:

  1. SayoStudio Science Animation
  2. 2020 SayoStudio Science Art
  3. Women in STEM Science Illustration Spotlight
  4. Microbiome Landscape 3D Drawn Art

Animation,  Art Process,  Science,  Science Illustration 2020,  3d illustration,  andrea ghez,  art,  astronomy art,  black,  black hole,  Nicolle R. Fuller,  nobel prize,  nsf,  physics art,  SayoStudio,  sciart,  science art

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#sciart—microbes 🔬to galaxies 🔭—Nicolle Fuller leads SayoStudio creating art & animation of science wonders. #scienceillustration

SayoStudio
Did you know you can make a free, DIY water filter Did you know you can make a free, DIY water filter out of wood?! 

Trees naturally have xylem -- a straw like tubing -- to transport water and nutrients into the tree. The pores inside these xylem tubes are very complex on a nanoscale. Water molecules can flow freely through the tubing, but larger bacterial cells get trapped inside the xylem structures.
Because this filtration system removes rotavirus and E. coli, these filters meet the standards set by @WHO for clean, drinkable water. 

Learn more about nanoscientist Krithika Ramchander and Dr. Rohit Karnik's (@mit_engineering) research and see an animation of the xylem catching bacteria on our blog: https://sayostudio.com/science-diy-water-filter-animation

Art and animation created by Nicolle R. Fuller, SayoStudio
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Is #ScienceFriday a thing on social media..? It is Is #ScienceFriday a thing on social media..? It is? Then allow us to introduce you to the basics of #StringTheory! â €
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String theory is a Theory of Everything (Grand Unification Theory) that seeks to unite the gravitational force with the other fundamental forces (electromagnetism and nuclear forces) that are already described by quantum mechanics at the atomic level. â €
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Gaining a foothold in the theoretical physics community during the 1970's, string theory states that fundamental particles such as quarks + electrons are not points of energy or matter, but result instead from the vibrations of one-dimensional ‘string-like’ entities on a far smaller scale. ⠀
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Although string theory is highly debated and very complex, it poses very interesting solutions to why our observed universe acts the way it does. â €
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Artwork by Nicolle R Fuller, SayoStudio â €
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#stringtheory #granreunificationtheory #theoryofeverything #physics #quantummechanics #nuclear #multidimensions #dimensions #sciart #scienceillustration #scicomm #electromagnetism #energy #matter â €
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Could neurodegenerative diseases really be caused Could neurodegenerative diseases really be caused by ancient viral infections? â €
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You can read more about this research here: https://loom.ly/_uTOBvc â €
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Artwork by Nicolle R. Fuller, SayoStudio for @the_scientist_magazine. â €
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#msawarenessweek #multiplesclerosis #neurodegenerative #neurodisease #als #ms #medicalillustration #cell #sciart #scicomm #scienceillustration #medart #stem #sayostudio â €
Having your heart flutter on Valentine's Day might Having your heart flutter on Valentine's Day might seem normal...but for some, it's a common symptom of atrial fibrillation. 💓

Afib is a heart arrhythmia characterized by irregular or fast beating. Electrical signals in the heart dictate how often your heart pumps-- and for some this can get out of whack, causing palpitations and dizziness. 

Luckily  treatment exists to manage Afib. To learn more, visit the American Heart Association or click the link below: https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/atrial-fibrillation

Artwork by Nicolle R. Fuller, SayoStudio for @popularmechanics
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#AmericanHeartMonth #NationalHeartMonth #Scienceillustration #sciart #hearthealth #americanheartassociation #afib #atrialfibrillation #arrhythmia #valentinesheart #heartart #medicalart #medicalillustration
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