Interactive Black Hole Visualization for Planetariums

Presentation theme: fulldome

I present a state-of-the-art, interactive high-quality visualization of black holes for planetariums and illustrate how it can be utilized for interactive planetarium shows. The poster also covers some technical details of the black hole visualization, with the goal to provide insights for interested planetarians coming from various backgrounds. This includes anyone who wants to learn more about the fundamentals of general relativity and black holes, as well as those experienced in physics or computer graphics. 

The visualization depicts a Schwarzschild black hole and comes with multiple visual effects, such as the gravitational lensing effect, an accretion disk, a jet, relativistic Doppler effects, and animated backgrounds. These features enable planetarians to adapt the black hole visualization to their needs and, thus, target different audiences with their presentations. Presenters can control every aspect of the visualization in real time, allowing for live interaction with their guests. 

This black hole visualization, which was developed as part of my master's thesis, will be included in upcoming versions of UNIVIEW by ZEISS.

Image © Arena Berlin