If light cannot escape a black hole, could light orbit a black hole, and in theory if you could stand in that spot and look in the direction of the orbital path, could you see your back?

Question

The march 1993 cover of Scientific American magazine inspired me for this question when I was a kid.

In: Physics

Answer 1

We can now “see” black holes due to the accretion disk. The accretion disk is the planetary debris and stellar dust that orbits a black hole, as this debris spirals in towards the black hole it accelerates and heats up and that in turn means that it gives off electromagnetic radiation which can just about be observed from Earth. https://youtu.be/_sNvos8kfs8