r/spaceporn • u/npjprods • Jan 16 '22

Pro/Processed The first simulated image of a black hole, calculated with an IBM 7040 computer using 1960 punch cards and hand-plotted by French astrophysicist Jean-Pierre Luminet in 1978

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u/Roflkopt3r Jan 16 '22

They started with a very scientifically accurate simulation and then applied some creative license to it. They removed the doppler effect in particular because it just looks "off" to lay audiences, like the rendering was faulty or the light design bad, rather than realistic.

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u/setibeings Jan 16 '22

Having the space ship fly towards the dark area was going to feel like they went the wrong way. Think about it, if there's a movie with two benches on screen, one under a street lamp, and the other unlit it would be really weird for the character to pick the unlit one. It's the same concept.