Since 2003, the black hole at the centre of the Perseus galaxy cluster has been linked to sound. Scientists discovered that pressure waves from the black hole rippled up and down in a heated gas cloud, producing a note 57 octaves below middle C, which is beyond human hearing range. Earth is 240 million light-years away from the Perseus galaxy.
This black hole sound machine can now produce a wider range of tones thanks to a new sonification. A new sonification was made available as part of NASA’s Black Hole Week events this year.
This sonification is unlike any other that has been done before (1, 2, 3, 4) in several ways because it revisits genuine sound waves identified in data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory.
Using sound waves previously identified by astronomers but never heard before, a new sonification of Perseus has been created. A new sonic representation of another well-known black hole has also been revealed. The video that Chandra Observatory shared on Twitter has been viewed by over 161,000 people.
The common belief that there is no sound in space stems from the fact that much of space is effectively a vacuum, preventing sound waves from propagating. However, a large amount of gas surrounds a galaxy cluster, allowing sound waves to pass through it without interference.
The black hole’s eerie noises terrified internet users, and others claimed to see a skull in the footage. Several Twitter users have commented that it sounds like music from a horror film.
