An Explanation for the Paradox of How We “See” Black Holes—Even Though They’re Invisible

One of the trickiest black hole concepts to grasp is also one of their most introductory : disastrous holes do n’t give off any light , so how do we still manage to “ see ” something that is functionally inconspicuous ? Here ’s a hefty explanation of how that paradox work .

Top image : pitch-dark hole creative person ’s construct / NASA

It ’s a pretty canonical interrogation that often comes up for mass when learn about dark holes . Which is why this short young video recording from Brian Greene on the subject is so worthful . It does an excellent occupation of explain that , while the mordant hole itself may stay invisible , what its doing to the other object circumvent it — and the light that they ’re throwing off — is anything but .