There are infinite rings of light around a black hole that capture the history of the universe, and scientists are figuring out how to get a better look.
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00:00 [music]
00:03 Black holes are notoriously hard to photograph.
00:06 According to the ESO, our first ever image of a black hole
00:09 came from eight different telescopes across the world
00:11 that joined forces to get one simple picture.
00:14 But according to Science Alert, more images can answer some big questions.
00:18 Scientists are particularly interested in rings of light
00:20 just outside a black hole's event horizon.
00:23 These rings are made of photons stuck in the orbit of a black hole
00:26 that aren't quite close enough to get sucked in.
00:28 Research published in the journal Science Advances
00:30 says that this visible ring of light
00:32 actually contains infinite light rings nested inside it.
00:35 This is possible because black holes are so massive
00:38 that gravity works in wild ways around them.
00:40 Theoretically, it would make orbiting photons
00:42 capture a snapshot of the entire universe.
00:45 The closer you look, the older these snapshots get.
00:48 Each sub-ring of light shows the universe at an earlier date,
00:51 meaning that if you saw them in order,
00:52 it would tell the life story of the universe.
00:54 And more practically, the sub-rings show the mass and speed of a black hole.
00:57 Our best bet for seeing these light rings
01:00 is with arrays of telescopes called interferometers.
01:03 The goal is to have long distances between telescopes,
01:06 so it would help to build one on the Moon or beyond.
01:09 (upbeat music)