NASA continues to solve some of the greatest mysteries of the universe, including some you didn’t even know you cared about, like how a black hole sounds.
According to NASA, one of the greatest misconceptions about space is that there’s no sound in it because most space is a vacuum which means there’s no way for sound to travel.
That isn’t the case for a galaxy cluster. In a galaxy cluster, there’s actually so much gas that sound can travel through it.
With all of that being said, NASA was able to capture a black hole, amplified and mixed with some other data.
The misconception that there is no sound in space originates because most space is a ~vacuum, providing no way for sound waves to travel. A galaxy cluster has so much gas that we’ve picked up actual sound. Here it’s amplified, and mixed with other data, to hear a black hole! pic.twitter.com/RobcZs7F9e
— NASA Exoplanets (@NASAExoplanets) August 21, 2022
The eerie and ominous-sounding black hole that you’re listening to is at the centre of the Perseus galaxy cluster.
“Astronomers discovered that pressure waves sent out by the black hole caused ripples in the cluster’s hot gas that could be translated into a note — one that humans cannot hear some 57 octaves below middle C.”
What NASA did to make the sound audible was essentially in the space agency’s own words, a remix — or a sonification.
“The signals were then resynthesized into the range of human hearing by scaling them upward by 57 and 58 octaves above their true pitch. Another way to put this is that they are being heard 144 quadrillion and 288 quadrillion times higher than their original frequency.”
NASA did the same thing with a black hole at the centre of the M87 galaxy. This black hole sounds a little less horror show.
Will you be adding the sounds of a black hole to your summer playlist?
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