2022-06-21 Tue

Austria highlights the astronomical phenomenon known as a black hole with a new 20 Euros coin. 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 coin is concave on one side and convex on the other to help illustrate the funnel shape of these regions of space-time where gravity is so strong that nothing can escape from them. The reverse of the coin depicts a wonderful coloured image of the Black Hole with the inscription: “SCHWARZES LOCH” n the top left of the reverse.

The obverse of the coin shows the position of the Sun in relation to the rest of our galaxy, the position of Orion's Arm and also the positions of the astronomical phenomena Cygnus X-1 and Crab Pulsar. All around the obverse, the inscriptions: the year of issue, the issue country and the face value.

Image Courtesy: numismag.com