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I've recently found myself with copies of both Maple and Mathematica and I'm looking to use it to study relativity and hopefully the field equations of GR.

I mainly study general relativity but I've always been a pen and paper kind of guy except maybe doing some tensor calculations using Maxima when things become monotonous or excessive. I'm particularly keen to start learning some visual GR, if that makes sense. Some time this year, I'll be giving a casual presentation on deriving the Schwarzschild solution and I'd like to be able to display some cool images or animations to keep the (albeit small) crowd interested.

My question is

With regards to a spherically symmetric gravitational field. What are the modern references/resources for visualising GR?

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    $\begingroup$ These kinds of list questions are off topic. I need to get around to writing a meta post about this, because it seems really wasteful to have a site like this and not allow this question, which has HEAPS of potential for educators. For the moment, perhaps you could reframe the question as a reference request: there are some relativity simulations on the Wolfram Demonstrations project site but none are much better than my own (I mean by that that they're not particularly high standard since my own Mathematica capabilities aren't that great). $\endgroup$
    – Selene Routley
    Jan 13, 2017 at 8:30
  • $\begingroup$ @WetSavannaAnimalakaRodVance I agree there is certainly a lot that could be gained. I've re-worded the question so hopefully someone will take it off hold. $\endgroup$
    – Rumplestillskin
    Jan 13, 2017 at 11:33
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    $\begingroup$ Visualisations are always going to be a compromise, but telling your audience that they have to think purely in math terms won't keep their attention long. The most accurate visualisations are the (rather drab) ones you find in textbook. As you probably know, Picasso had a go at trying to depict 4 D, which was as accurate as somee TV graphics. Best of luck with your talk. The best popular depictions I have seen are in Rudy Rucker's books, which are free online as a PDF. $\endgroup$
    – user154420
    Jul 10, 2017 at 12:33
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    $\begingroup$ A nice derivation of the most general spherically symmetric metric is in Weinberg's "Gravitation and Cosmology" (1972) text book. But it doesn't help with the visualization obviously. $\endgroup$
    – Photon
    Jul 10, 2017 at 13:56

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