IR Black Hole Image

This 360-degree image shows infrared radiation and places the viewer between two circling supermassive black holes around 18.6 million miles (30 million kilometers) apart with an orbital period of 46 minutes. The simulation shows how the black holes distort the starry background and capture light, producing black hole silhouettes. A distinctive feature called a photon ring outlines the black holes. The entire system would have around 1 million times the Sun’s mass. The background is a view of the entire sky as observed by the NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE).

Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center; background, NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA