full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Katie Bouman: How to take a picture of a black hole

Unscramble the Blue Letters

But what happens if we were to zoom in even further? Is it possible to see something that, by definition, is iospslbime to see? Well, it turns out that if we were to zoom in at radio wavelengths, we'd expect to see a ring of light caused by the gtaovintairal lnsineg of hot plasma zipping around the black hole. In other words, the black hole casts a shadow on this backdrop of bright material, carving out a sphere of darkness. This bright ring reveals the black hole's event horizon, where the gravitational pull becomes so great that not even lgiht can escape. Einstein's equations predict the size and shape of this ring, so taking a picture of it wouldn't only be really cool, it would also help to verify that these einotaqus hold in the extreme cnontoiids around the bcalk hole.

Open Cloze

But what happens if we were to zoom in even further? Is it possible to see something that, by definition, is __________ to see? Well, it turns out that if we were to zoom in at radio wavelengths, we'd expect to see a ring of light caused by the _____________ _______ of hot plasma zipping around the black hole. In other words, the black hole casts a shadow on this backdrop of bright material, carving out a sphere of darkness. This bright ring reveals the black hole's event horizon, where the gravitational pull becomes so great that not even _____ can escape. Einstein's equations predict the size and shape of this ring, so taking a picture of it wouldn't only be really cool, it would also help to verify that these _________ hold in the extreme __________ around the _____ hole.

Solution

  1. black
  2. impossible
  3. light
  4. equations
  5. lensing
  6. conditions
  7. gravitational

Original Text

But what happens if we were to zoom in even further? Is it possible to see something that, by definition, is impossible to see? Well, it turns out that if we were to zoom in at radio wavelengths, we'd expect to see a ring of light caused by the gravitational lensing of hot plasma zipping around the black hole. In other words, the black hole casts a shadow on this backdrop of bright material, carving out a sphere of darkness. This bright ring reveals the black hole's event horizon, where the gravitational pull becomes so great that not even light can escape. Einstein's equations predict the size and shape of this ring, so taking a picture of it wouldn't only be really cool, it would also help to verify that these equations hold in the extreme conditions around the black hole.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
black hole 29
puzzle pieces 5
event horizon 4
disco ball 4
telescope measurements 3
supermassive black 2
gravitational pull 2
computer graphic 2
incredibly small 2
horizon telescope 2
collect light 2
imaging algorithms 2
hole image 2
infinite number 2
hole simulation 2
image assumptions 2
imaging ideas 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
supermassive black hole 2
event horizon telescope 2
black hole image 2
black hole simulation 2

Important Words

  1. backdrop
  2. black
  3. bright
  4. carving
  5. casts
  6. caused
  7. conditions
  8. cool
  9. darkness
  10. definition
  11. equations
  12. escape
  13. event
  14. expect
  15. extreme
  16. gravitational
  17. great
  18. hold
  19. hole
  20. horizon
  21. hot
  22. impossible
  23. lensing
  24. light
  25. material
  26. picture
  27. plasma
  28. predict
  29. pull
  30. radio
  31. reveals
  32. ring
  33. shadow
  34. shape
  35. size
  36. sphere
  37. turns
  38. verify
  39. wavelengths
  40. words
  41. zipping
  42. zoom