This week’s selection is the Black Hole Lamp by Printables contributor NAM_3.
Black holes are a thing that no one has visited or even seen. You’d think that you cannot see them because by definition light cannot escape their tremendous gravity. But in fact, you can see all the material falling into the black hole, which gets super-energized on the way in, producing visible radiation.
Scientists have developed ways to visualize what such a scene might look like. Above you can see the initial visualization made by J-P Luminet in 1978. The extreme gravity wraps the light around so that you can see the other side of the hole.
This style of image was popularized in the famous movie Interstellar, where the crew aged far slower by hanging around in the hole’s gravity well for too long.
You definitely can’t visit a black hole, but now you can print one!
NAM_3 has designed a light fixture that uses this same styling. The ingenious part is how the single light source inside has its light gradually fading across the disk’s surface through the model. It really looks quite like the representation of a black hole.
There are two colours of filament required: black (obviously) and anything else. The black represents the hole and the other colour will have light shining through it. I’d choose white, orange, or red.
Of course, you’ll also need a light source, and NAM_3 recommends an LED light kit from Amazon that includes not only the light and power connection but also a switch: this is, after all, a light fixture you will need to turn off and on.
We’ve previously seen printable models of planets, and now you can have a black hole, too.
Via Printables
