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arXiv · 2308.11623

Tidal Disruption: An Unforgettable Encounter with a Black Hole

Abstract

The annual GLEAM outdoor art exhibition features curated, large-scale light installations in the Olbrich Botanical Gardens in Madison, Wisconsin. With submissions from local, regional, and international artists, the annual two-month long event draws tens of thousands of visitors each fall. "Tidal Disruption", an art-science light sculpture representative of the form and behavior of a tidal disruption event, debuted at GLEAM 2022.The installation was a collaboration between artists Hosale and Abdu'Allah, and astrophysicist Madsen. The immersive light and sound exhibit stylistically depicted the death of a star as it spirals into a black hole in a roughly 4 minute sequence. Designed primarily by Hosale, the components were custom fabricated using clear PVC pipe at the Physical Sciences Laboratory at UW-Madison. In this poster, we will describe the process of developing, fabricating, and installing "Tidal Disruption" and the response from the viewers.

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Mark-David Hosale, Jim Madsen, Vedant Basu. 2023-07-27. Tidal Disruption: An Unforgettable Encounter with a Black Hole. https://arxiv.org/abs/2308.11623

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