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Traveler and Friends GIFs

This animation opens with a round black hole character, represented by a black circle with half-circle eyes and two small arms, sitting in the center of a purple background with stylized stars scattered around. A red dot at the center of the black hole is labeled, “Singularity,” and a purple pencil hovers near the bottom left of the black hole. As the animation proceeds, the pencil draws a dotted red circle that encloses the black hole, which is labeled, “Event Horizon.” The pencil swirls into the black hole, since it ventured inside the event horizon. The black hole’s eyes follow the pencil on its movements.
Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Published: April 12, 2023

This page provides social media assets used during previous celebrations of Black Hole Week. The world of Black Hole Week is populated by a fun bunch of characters, including a little blue explorer (called the Traveler) and their cosmic friends.

Below, you'll find tons of GIFs to download and use if you want to join in!

This animation opens with a round black hole character, represented by a black circle with half-circle eyes and two small arms, sitting in the center of a purple background with stylized stars scattered around. A red dot at the center of the black hole is labeled, “Singularity,” and a purple pencil hovers near the bottom left of the black hole. As the animation proceeds, the pencil draws a dotted red circle that encloses the black hole, which is labeled, “Event Horizon.” The pencil swirls into the black hole, since it ventured inside the event horizon. The black hole’s eyes follow the pencil on its movements.
A black hole is a superdense object in space. Its surface, called an event horizon, is a boundary beyond which everything, including light, cannot escape. At its heart is a point where gravity and density are infinite – the singularity.
This animated postcard features a black background with a single small stylized star at the center. On the left, rising from a tall signpost is a purple sign with round lights dotted around its edge. As the animation progresses, the lights flash on and off between dark purple, blue, and white. The sign reads, “The Singularity.” In the lower right corner, additional text reads, “Wish you were here … instead of me!”
The singularity is the spot at (quite literally) the center of all the action in a black hole! Unfortunately, this post card will never escape the black hole.
Two black holes sit in the middle of a purple background with stylized stars. On the right is a smaller black hole wearing a white, scalloped bonnet and with a pacifier in its mouth and two small arms. It sucks on the pacifier a couple of times before the pacifier is pulled into the black hole, causing the small black hole to cry. On the left is a larger black hole with muscly arms with a dumbbell in one hand that they are raising and lowering. They turn their eyes to the baby black hole when it starts crying. The baby black hole has a label, “Fun Size,” and the weight-lifting one is labeled, “King Size.”
Black holes are typically found in two different sizes, smaller stellar-mass ones and huge supermassive ones.
This animation opens with a mottled purple background with splotches of lighter and darker shades of purple. As the animation progresses, round black birds, each representing a black hole, appear scattered across the image. Each black hole bird has an orange beak, two small horn-shaped ear tufts on top of their head, small wings on either side, and narrow legs. At the end of the animation, a line of question marks swipes across the image from the lower left to the upper right.
While we know about small and big black holes, it’s also possible that black holes may have formed back at the beginning of the universe when everything was just really packed together. However, if they do exist, we haven’t detected them yet.
This animation opens with just a purple background and a few stylized stars scattered around. Then a cartoon black hole pops up from the middle of the frame and waves. Then objects appear around the black hole including a unicorn, planet, asteroid, sun, rocket, and camera. These objects orbit as the black hole watches.
Black holes are often detected by how they affect their surroundings, which can include finding material orbiting an invisible object.
This animation opens with just a purple background and a few stylized white stars scattered around and a swarm of yellow stars circling an empty spot in the middle of the frame. An arrow points to the center of the swarm of stars with a line of question marks. Then a black hole bird spins around, appearing from the blank space with the question marks turning into exclamation points. The character is a round black bird, representing a black hole, with an orange beak, two round eyes, two small horn-shaped ear tufts on top of their head, small wings on either side, and narrow stick-like legs. They flap their wings for a moment, blink, and look up at the exclamation marks.
If you have a keen eye, you might be able to catch a glimpse of a black hole by looking at its surroundings.
This animation is an illustration of gravitational lensing. The background looks like aged paper, and all drawings are made of lines as though a pen drew them. At the center of the diagram is a black hole bird that looks like a stylized owl. To the far right is a star and on the far left is an eye looking toward the star. The black hole bird lies directly between the star and the eye. Dotted lines, representing light from the star, are shown to arc above and below the black hole bird, in the same way light can be lensed, or redirected, by a massive object between the object that emits the light and the viewer.
Black holes can bend light that’s passing them, which is called gravitational lensing.
This animation opens with a round black hole character, represented by a black circle with half-circle eyes and two small arms, sitting in the center of a purple background with stylized stars scattered around. Then the camera zooms out until the black hole is tiny at the center of the image. A small red circle is drawn around the black hole with a note saying “Not Safe.” Dotted around the rest of the image is the word “Safe” repeated many times. Then the animation reverses, the words disappear and it zooms back into the black hole.
Black holes are safe, from a distance.
The animation opens with a cartoon black hole sitting in the middle of a purple background with a few stylized stars scattered around. The black hole has an accretion disk around them, shown as swirls of different orange hues. Extending upward and downward are a pair of white cones representing jets of material that can be formed in the region of a black hole. When the animation opens, there are two orange frowning face icons pointing to the jets, then three red frowning face icons with ‘x’s for eyes pop onto the screen. The scene zooms out just a little, and a number of green smiling face icons appear on the outer right and left sides of the scene. These different icons depict how safe it is to be in different locations around a black hole. Then the animation reverses, with the icons disappearing and the scene zooming back into the black hole.
The region near a black hole might have glowing stuff in a disk around it and some radiation, so getting too close is inadvisable.
Against a purple background dotted with orange stars, a black hole bird and a large star orbit each other. The black hole bird character is a round black bird, representing a black hole, with an orange beak, two round eyes, two small horn-shaped ear tufts on top of their head, small wings on either side, and narrow stick-like legs. As they circle the large star, they flap their wings, spin around, and bop their head. The large star character is depicted as a large orange circle with pulsating yellow and orange spikes around its edges. As it circles the black hole bird, its face shows a worried expression with eyes darting around and open mouth nervously shaking.
Black holes often love to dance with other objects in the universe. In this GIF, our black hole has a high-mass star as a partner.
Against a purple background dotted with orange stars, a black hole bird and a small star orbit each other. The black hole bird character is a round black bird, representing a black hole, with an orange beak, two round eyes, two small horn-shaped ear tufts on top of their head, small wings on either side, and narrow stick-like legs. As they circle the small star, they flap their wings, spin around, and bop their head. The small star character is depicted as a large yellow circle with pulsating yellow and orange spikes around its edges. As it orbits the black hole bird, its face shows a worried expression with a frowning face and eyes darting around.
We also find black holes and low-mass stars orbiting each other.

Against a purple background dotted with orange stars, a black hole bird and a white dwarf star orbit each other. The black hole bird character is a round black bird, representing a black hole, with an orange beak, two round eyes, two small horn-shaped ear tufts on top of their head, small wings on either side, and narrow stick-like legs. As they circle the white dwarf star, they flap their wings, spin around, and bop their head. The white dwarf star character is depicted as a white yellow circle with long spikes to the sides and up and down, and smaller spikes between the large ones. As it orbits the black hole bird, its face shows some concern with a frown and small black eyes dart around.
Black holes can also partner with white dwarfs, which is what low-mass stars become at the ends of their lives.
Against a purple background dotted with orange stars, a black hole bird and a neutron star orbit each other. The black hole bird character is a round black bird, representing a black hole, with an orange beak, two round eyes, two small horn-shaped ear tufts on top of their head, small wings on either side, and narrow stick-like legs. As they circle the neutron star, they flap their wings, spin around, and bop their head. The neutron star character is depicted as a white circle with light blue arcs drawn from their top to their bottom, indicating their strong magnetic fields. As it orbits the black hole bird, the neutron star spins around like it’s doing cartwheels and it has a happy expression.
Neutron stars can also orbit black holes. These ultra-dense objects have powerful magnetic fields.

Against a purple background dotted with orange stars, a black hole bird and a small star orbit each other. The black hole bird character is a round black bird, representing a black hole, with an orange beak, two round eyes, two small horn-shaped ear tufts on top of their head, small wings on either side, and narrow stick-like legs. As they circle the small star, they flap their wings, spin around, and bop their head. The small star character is depicted as a large yellow circle with pulsating yellow and orange spikes around its edges. There is a stream of particles streaming from the small star to the black hole. There’s a bright flash from near the black hole bird, and when it is visible again it has a disk of pink and blue swirls representing an accretion disk.
If a star and black hole get too close together, the black hole will pull material from its companion.
Against a purple background dotted with orange stars sits a black hole bird with objects in orbit around it. The black hole bird character is a round black bird, representing a black hole, with an orange beak, two round eyes, two small horn-shaped ear tufts on top of their head, small wings on either side, and narrow stick-like legs. Around it are a star, a gray cloud of material, an apple, a potato, a left sock, and a star. There’s a bright flash from near the black hole bird, and when it is visible again it has a disk of pink and blue swirls representing an accretion disk.
While black holes themselves are indeed black, they can also be bright sources of light, putting on a great show if anything gets a bit too close. Often, this stuff can turn into an accretion disk, which is basically just a bunch of gas, dust, and other stuff … circling the black hole in, well, a disk.
Against a purple background dotted with orange stars sits a black hole bird with objects in orbit around it. The black hole bird character is a round black bird with an orange beak, two round eyes, two small horn-shaped ear tufts on top of their head, small wings on either side, and narrow stick-like legs. Around it are a star, a gray cloud of material, an apple, a potato, a left sock and a star. As the objects circle, the black hole bird watches them, flapping its wings, and occasionally spinning around.
Stuff like gas, dust, snacks, potatoes, missing left socks, or even stars could orbit a black hole.
Against a purple background dotted with orange stars sits a giant black hole bird with a cloud of hazy material and a swarm of characters orbiting it. The giant black bird has a blue beak, two small horn-shaped ear tufts on top of their head, small wings on either side, and narrow legs. Surrounding the black bird are characters including small and large stars, depicted as circles with triangle spikes all the way around them. Also there are pulsars which are white circles with light blue arcs drawn from their top to their bottom, indicating their strong magnetic fields. Among the swarm, the stars and white dwarfs have expressions of worry while the pulsars look happy, spinning away. The smaller black hole birds flap their wings and enjoy the dance. All the while, the giant black hole flaps its wings and looks at them.
Supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies can gather up more than gas and dust. They can collect stars and even smaller black holes, too.
The animation opens with a cartoon black hole sitting in the middle of a purple background with a few stylized stars scattered around. The black hole watches a small star come into the scene from the upper left, moving toward the black hole. When it gets close, the side of the star close to the black hole stretches out forming a stream of material that circles the black hole. The material turns into an accretion disk that’s represented by swirls in shades of orange around the middle of the black hole. The black hole watches the star as it is shredded, then looks outward and raises its arms as if putting them on its hips.
Anything that wanders too close to a black hole can be torn apart and pulled in. This is called a tidal disruption event.
Against a purple background dotted with orange stars sits a black hole bird with bright swirls of pink, green, and blue circling around, representing an accretion disk. The black hole bird character is a round black bird, representing a black hole, with an orange beak, two round eyes, two small horn-shaped ear tufts on top of their head, small wings on either side, and narrow stick-like legs. As the bird flaps and looks around, a flash of light comes from its top and bottom. Then plumes of white and pink shoot out from its top and bottom representing jets of material.
Black holes can launch powerful jets of matter moving at near the speed of light. A little bit of the surrounding stuff falls toward the black hole but gets thrown out.
Against a purple background dotted with orange stars and a few stylized white stars sits a black hole bird. The black hole bird character is a round black bird, representing a black hole, with an orange beak, two round eyes, two small horn-shaped ear tufts on top of their head, small wings on either side, and narrow stick-like legs. The bird spins as a flash of light signals the bird gaining an accretion disk wish, which is shown as bright swirls of pink, green, and blue encircling it. A glittering disco ball enters the scene from above and under the bird is a flashing dance floor. Another flash of light and plumes of white and pink shoot out from its top and bottom, representing jets of material. Then the bird hops up and down as if dancing.
Jets from black holes can create quite a light show.
Against a purple background dotted with orange stars and a few stylized white stars sits a cartoon galaxy made of a bright round center, yellow stars orbiting, and wispy swirls representing spiral arms. The galaxy recedes a bit, and then a small circle pops out with an arrow indicating it is a magnification of the galaxy’s center. In that small circle we see a giant black hole bird with a cloud of hazy material and a swarm of characters orbiting it. The giant black bird has a blue beak, two small horn-shaped ear tufts on top of their head, small wings on either side, and narrow legs, and it represents the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy. Surrounding the black bird are characters including small and large stars, pulsars, white dwarfs, and smaller black holes. Simultaneously, there is a flash that occurs near the black hole bird, in the zoomed-in magnification, and in the zoomed-out galaxy. Then jets appear in both, depicted as streams of pink and blue shooting out the top and bottom of the black hole bird and galaxy.
Supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies can launch giant, powerful jets into space, which can be viewed across the universe.
A blue cartoon character stands on dark purple ground with a lighter purple sky dotted with stylized stars. The character is shaped like a round-topped cylinder and they have one eye and one antenna. They wear a green space suit and a bubble-shaped clear helmet. They pull out a telescope from their pocket and place it on the ground. It stands on a tripod and is a simple cylinder. Then the scene pulls out and behind them appear two giant satellite dishes, a ground-based huge telescope on a robotic arm, and a square-shaped satellite above with a pair of solar arrays. In the upper right there is a round black bird, representing a black hole, with an orange beak, two small horn-shaped ear tufts on top of their head, small wings on either side, and narrow legs. The bird is surrounded by rings of orange, green, and blue, which represent an accretion disk around the black hole. Shooting up to the upper left and down to the lower right from the bird are plumes of orange, green and blue, which represent jets of material that can be accelerated away from the area around a black hole. The blue character goes from smiling as they set up their telescope to amazed at the array of other telescopes, then back to smiling at the end of the animation.
Astronomers study black holes with a combination of ground- and space-based telescopes and other detectors.
Against a purple background with a red rocket on the right, stands a smiling blue cartoon figure shaped like a round-topped cylinder with one eye and an antenna. They are wearing a bubble-shaped helmet, green space suit, and a baseball cap with a black hole figure. They hold a book on black holes in one hand and a flag that says “I heart black holes.” They are standing on a platform that leads into an open hole in the rocket. Then they drop the flag and pull out a brochure from their pocket. The scene then focuses on the brochure as it opens. The folded version, on the left, is a tall, narrow rectangle with the NASA logo in the upper right corner. There’s a black circle with narrowed eyes, representing a black hole, and the text: “Black Hole Safety Information Card.” Then it opens to show three panels, each with images of black holes, both cartoon depictions and other illustrations, along with illegible text between the images. Then the animation reverses so the brochure folds up, returns to the characters hands, they put it away and pick up the flag again
The Traveler is always sure to carry their helpful brochure with tips, tricks, and facts they’ll need to safely visit a black hole.
Against a purple background dotted with orange stars, sits a black hole bird. The black hole bird character is a round black bird, representing a black hole, with an orange beak, two round eyes, two small horn-shaped ear tufts on top of their head, small wings on either side, and narrow stick-like legs. In the lower left corner is a dark area that looks like the silhouettes of bubbles. As the black hole bird flaps and opens its beak, another silhouette appears in the bottom corner that looks like a figure with a pair of binoculars looking toward the bird. The bird flies away and the light comes up on a blue cartoon character in what was once the dark corner. This character looks like a round-topped cylinder with an antenna on top. They have a single eye and are wearing a green spacesuit and clear circular helmet. They are holding a book called “Field Guide to Black Holes.” They smile, then turn their attention to their book.
The Traveler’s black hole field guide is the perfect way to learn more about these elusive objects.

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