Why Do Black Holes Look So Silly?

Imagine a black hole like a giant, invisible sponge that swallows light. It looks silly because it's not just dark, it stretches and squishes the space around it so much that stars and other things near it get bent or stretched into funny shapes.

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Examples

  1. A black hole stretches the space around it like a giant rubber band, bending light and making stars look squished.
  2. Imagine looking at a black hole from the side, it can make background stars appear stretched into arcs.
  3. Nearby objects around a black hole might look like they're being squeezed by an invisible force.

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