Why Does a Black Hole Look Bigger Than It Really Is

Night Science Stories · Nov 5, 2026 · 2h 25m · transcript

Why does a black hole look bigger than it actually is? The strange truth is that what we see in images of black holes is not the black hole itself, but the effect its enormous gravity has on the space around it.Light bends as it travels near a black hole, creating a phenomenon called gravitational lensing. This bending of light can make the black hole appear larger than its actual event horizon. Even light from behind the black hole can curve around it, producing the mysterious glowing ring known as the photon ring.But there is an even stranger detail: the dark region in the famous images of…