With the recent release of fascinating images coming out of the James Webb Telescope, there’s been a renewed interest in deep space. In a new post, NASA Exoplanet, the branch responsible for searching for potential life-bearing worlds beyond our solar system, released the “actual sound” of a black hole.
“The misconception that there is no sound in space originates because most space is a vacuum, providing no way for sound waves to travel,” NASA Exoplanets writes in the tweet. “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!”
Since 2003, astronomers have associated sounds with the center of the Perseus galaxy cluster, realizing that pressure waves sent by black holes could be translated into audible notes by pitching up the signals by 57 octaves above their true pitch. The data was gathered by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and are extracted in radial directions from the center.
Take a listen to the audio below and find more information on the NASA website.
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
In case you missed it, NASA also recently shared a stunning image of Jupiter captured by the Webb Space Telescope.
wazup.