Fig. 1 An artist’s conception of a Black Hole showing the Accretion Disk and Relativistic Jet

I am considering two alternatives for my visualization project. The one I’m leaning towards at the moment is an analytical visualization of the spacetime around a black hole. More generally, I’m interested in visualizing the dilation of time due to changes in gravity. Since black holes are the most extreme case of gravitational warping, they seem like a good candidate for the project.

I have a couple of sub-ideas within this broad area. One is the visualization of a star being consumed by a black hole forming an accretion disk around it (Accretion Disk). The other is visualizing the time dilation and experience of falling into a black hole (The strange fate of a person falling into a black hole). I am currently exploring both and will probably choose one of them.

Fig. 2 Formation of an Accretion Disk around a Black Hole

If the black hole visualization seems tough to execute, the other option I’m thinking of is a map visualization of a fictional place such as Middle Earth (similar to LOTR Project), Gotham or Hogwarts. But I’m more keen on the former idea so I plan to flesh it out in the next few days and then decide which one to go ahead with.

Fig. 3 Interactive map of Middle Earth on lotrproject.com

Other references:

• http://hubblesite.org/explore_astronomy/black_holes/encyc_mod3_q16.html
• http://www.hawking.org.uk/into-a-black-hole.html
• Books: The Science of Interstellar by Kip Thorne and A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking