Detecting Black Holes with Gravitational Microlensing

This animation illustrates the concept of gravitational microlensing with a black hole. When the black hole appears to pass nearly in front of a background star, the light rays of the source star become bent due to the warped space-time around the foreground black hole. It becomes a virtual magnifying glass, amplifying the brightness of the distant background star. Unlike when a star or planet is the lensing object, black holes warp space-time so much that it noticeably alters the distant star’s apparent location in the sky Read more: Video credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Conceptual Image Lab Adriana Manrique Gutierrez (USRA): Lead Animator Scott Wiessinger (USRA): Lead Producer Claire Andreoli (NASA/GSFC): Communications Lead Ashley Balzer (GSFC Interns): Lead Science Writer This video, along with other supporting visualizations, can be downloaded from NASA Goddard’s Scientific Visualiz