Curved Spacetime — 3-D Lattice

space as a volumetric grid, drawn inward by mass in all three dimensions

black hole mass star mass time speed warp strength grid slab

grav. waves orbit trail grid auto-rotate

What you're seeing

This time the grid is a volume of space, not a rubber sheet. Every line — including the vertical ones — is drawn inward toward mass, so cells compress around the bodies. This is much closer to what gravity really does to space. (Still hugely exaggerated.)
The black sphere is the event horizon; lattice lines that pass close to it converge into the hole from every direction. The ring is light at the photon sphere.
The orange star is an ordinary stellar body — smaller mass, smaller warp — and it carries its own distortion with it as it orbits. The black hole wobbles too: both orbit their common centre of mass.
The orbit precesses into a rosette — the same general-relativity effect as Mercury's perihelion precession.
With grav. waves on, ripples radiated by the pair breathe through the whole lattice, strongest when the orbit is tight and fast.
Use the grid slab slider to thin the volume down to the orbital plane when you want a clearer view. Click to relocate the star; if it crosses the horizon it is swallowed and a new star appears.

drag — orbit · scroll — zoom · click — move the star · space — pause

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