ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Hartle–Thorne metric

Imagine you are playing a game with your friend who is blindfolded. You have to guide them through an obstacle course without them hitting anything. You need to tell them where to go, how far to walk, and how to turn. In the same way, when we study black holes in space, we need to use a special map to guide us. This map is called the Hartle-Thorne metric.

The Hartle-Thorne metric is like a special recipe for measuring distances and angles around a black hole. It tells us how to calculate things like how much time passes in different areas of space and how much gravity there is. This is important because black holes are incredibly powerful objects that can bend and warp the fabric of space and time around them.

The Hartle-Thorne metric helps us understand how black holes affect the space and time around them. It is named after two physicists, Jim Hartle and Kip Thorne, who worked together to create this map. They used a lot of complicated math to develop the Hartle-Thorne metric, but the important thing to know is that it helps scientists study black holes and understand the mysteries of the universe.