BLACK HOLE UNCHARTED UNIVERSE 2022 20€ Concave & Convex Proof Sterling .925 Silver Coin – Austria
USD 118.41
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USD 118.41
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Notify me when item is back in stock.
A unique coin for a unique phenomenon. Concave on one side and convex on the other, The Black Holeillustrates the funnel shape of these regions of spacetime where gravity is so strong that nothing can escape from them. One way of envisaging a black hole is as a vortex that draws in everything in its immediate proximity. Once beyond the point of no return – known as the ‘event horizon’ – the ‘singularity’ awaits at the centre. Stephen Hawking and Roger Penrose showed that this is a place where space-time curvature is infinite.
The interpretation of the black hole as a region of space from which nothing can escape was first published by American physics professor David Finkelstein in 1958. But it was not until 1971 that Cygnus X-1 became the first black hole to be named as such, having been identified by several researchers working independently.
Although storing vast amounts of energy, black holes do not emit light. For this reason, the first photograph of a black hole was not published until 2019 and, even then, only as an indirect image of the shadow it casts. No wonder that so much remains unclear about black holes. Among the most complex objects possible in our or any other universe, they are not only a challenge experimentally but also raise a multitude of fundamental questions about space and time.
The black hole vortex phenomenon is illustrated on the coin’s reverse in the shape a funnel decorated with a colour-printed spiral. On the coin’s obverse, a cone rises from the flat silver surface, representing the curvature of space-time. ‘Cygnus X-1’, the name of the first black hole to be named as such, is written to the right under ‘15 M☉’, the solar mass of this black hole. In German, ‘Event horizon’ marks the boundary between the observable and the unobservable in space-time, while ‘Singularity’ points to the location of maximum space-time curvature.
Minted to a maximum of 30,000 pieces in Proof quality only, each superb 20 euro silver coin (925 Ag, 2/3 ounce) comes in an attractive case with a numbered certificate of authenticity.
SPECIFICATIONS OF COIN
Fineness: .925 Sterling Silver
Finish: Proof
Size: 34mm
Denomination: 20€
Year of Issue: 2022
Max Mintage: 30,000
Gross Weight: 2/3 oz
Packaging: Comes in a case complete with a numbered certificate of authenticity and protective slipcase
Country: Austria