Blackhole

This piece is oil on panel and is sized 63” x 186”

A black hole glows due to the effect of quantum perturbations in the space-time fabric that produce pairs of matter/anti-matter bits. In open space these bits collapse into each other preserving Newton’s second law. On the perimeter of the event horizon of a black hole, these quantum perturbations create the possibility that bit pairs of matter/anti-matter may be separated when one aspect of the pair is hit by an incoming object knocking one half of the pair into the black hole and the other half free of its gravitational pull. The center panel shows a constellation of black holes arranged in Lagrangian orbits. The horizontal lines represent the event horizons of each, illuminated by their glow.

The frequency of these events is quite low. However, the quantum glow of a black hole has been detected. The presence of a group of black holes arranged in Lagrangian orbits has never been detected. In an infinite universe such an event would presumably be possible.

One way that the presence of a black hole can be detected is by observing its effect on a nearby star. Black hole / star pairs have been observed in binary orbits. Using this method the black hole is not independently viewed, rather the paired star’s unusual orbit and mass loss is observed.

Another way that a black hole can be detected is by observing the way it bends the light from a star that is directly behind it. Light from a star that enters the event horizon of a black hole disappears into the black hole. Light that passes the event horizon tangentially is bent toward the direction of the black hole. Light that passed further from the black hole is bent to a lesser degree. A black hole can be detected when telescopes find a pair of stars with identical spectrographs coming from nearby parts of the sky and at identical distance from us. The location of the black hole is determined by comparing the distance to the distorted star to the amount of distortion in the spectrographs. The spectrographs vary in the amount of red shift seen in each half of the pair.

The left and right panels represent distorted light spectrographs of a single star physically located behind the constellation of black holes represented by the center panel. The variation in color from left panel to right panel represents the red shift. The amount of red shift shows how fast we are moving in relation to the black holes.