Black hole: Light observed on the other side of a black hole Astrophysicists have observed light coming from the other side of a black hole, using telescopes to see physics predicted by Einstein's theory of relativity. Black holes literally "swallow" everything, including light, which means that seeing any form of light is technically impossible.
However, a new study used an unusual effect where light "resonates" around the black hole, meaning scientists can see it from the other side. The observation was made after scientists analyzed X-rays being "shot" into the universe by a supermassive black hole, which is located at the center of a galaxy 800 million light-years away.
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These X-rays arrived in a strange pattern. Following the initial bright rays, smaller ones arrived that had different “colors” than the more obvious ones. Dan Wilkins, an astrophysicist at Stanford University, said the rays appeared to be reflecting off the other side of the black hole. But that’s highly unusual, since black holes are better known for destroying light than for being a source of it.
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"Any light that goes into this black hole doesn't come out, so we shouldn't be able to see anything behind it. The reason we can see it is because this black hole is warping space, bending light and spinning magnetic fields around itself," Wilkins explained.
The discovery of light from the other side of a black hole was predicted by Einstein's theory of relativity. But it has never happened before , and this discovery marks the first time that light has been directly observed from behind a black hole. The observations of light from the other side of the black hole were made using the European Space Agency's (ESA) XMM-Newton telescope and NASA 's NuSTAR telescope .
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More precise telescopes could help astrophysicists understand these physical phenomena, as well as other strange behaviors of black holes. In the future, more exciting discoveries about nature's most extreme objects are sure to come.
