A little wonder, every day

Is a black hole a sphere or a funnel?

AI-generated conceptual illustration of a spherical-looking event horizon and lensed stars; not an observed photograph or exact relativistic rendering.

still frame from NASA Goddard Scientific Visualization Studio’s “Isolated Black Hole Visualization” (2024), an explanatory simulation showing gravitational lensing around a modeled black hole. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt (Caltech-IPAC). https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14620/

Custom source-based educational infographic created 2026-10-19 and visually checked. It summarizes the fact-specific evidence and uncertainty in post.md and sources.md; original Pillow-drawn schematic, no imported photo assets.

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AI-generated conceptual illustration of a spherical-looking event horizon and lensed stars; not an observed photograph or exact relativistic rendering.

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A funnel-shaped black hole is a diagram of curved space, not its actual shape. For a nonrotating black hole, the boundary beyond which light cannot escape is a spherical event horizon; it is not a solid surface. Real black holes usually rotate, so their geometry is more complex than an ordinary ball.