The Five Stages
The visualization is structured as a narrative journey through five distinct stages, each representing a different phase in the gravitational collapse of a massive star from "gravitational well" point of view:
Stage 1: Flat Spacetime
Traditional 2D "map" view of space - flat Cartesian coordinates where planets follow classical Keplerian orbits. This is the spacetime geometry far from any massive objects.
Stage 2: Early Collapse
As the star begins to collapse, spacetime starts to curve. The grid lines subtly warp near the center, visually demonstrating how mass affects the geometry of space itself.
Stage 3: Deep Collapse
Gravitational collapse intensifies. The grid curvature becomes dramatic, and you can see how this would affect the paths of objects and light moving through this region.
Stage 4: Event Horizon
The critical moment: the event horizon forms. This boundary represents the point of no return - beyond it, not even light can escape. The visualization shows this as a dark disk where spacetime curvature becomes extreme.
Stage 5: Full Black Hole
The completed black hole with maximum spacetime distortion. At this stage, the gravitational effects are so strong that they completely dominate the local geometry, creating the characteristic "funnel" shape in embedding diagrams.
Technical Implementation
- WebGPU: GPU-accelerated rendering for smooth, real-time visualization with thousands of grid segments
- SvelteKit: Modern web framework for reactive UI and server-side rendering
"Educational" Philosophy
This follows a curated narrative approach rather than allowing arbitrary parameter adjustment. The five stages are designed to build understanding progressively, showing how spacetime geometry evolves during gravitational collapse.
The color gradients (blue → cyan → yellow → orange → red) represent gravitational potential energy, providing an intuitive visual mapping of field strength.