What Does a Black Hole Look Like?

Credit & Copyright: Alain Riazuelo - Click Image for Large Version

Not to sound like a smart ass…but it would look like a big black hole.

This is a computer generated image by Alain Riazuelo and I saw it the other day as the Astronomy Picture of the Day.

Aside from eating all the light hitting the black hole straight on, notice the “rings” around it as well. This is called gravitational lensing, and is something astronomers look for in order to identify a black hole, since the lensing is easily visible at a larger distance.