NASA Shares Black Hole Sonification From Perseus Galaxy Resulting in Eerie Sound [Listen]

NASA has produced what may be considered the black hole soundtrack for this week.

Sound cannot travel through space, according to popular opinion (per Republic World), since sound requires a medium to move, while outer space is a vacuum.

The researchers achieved this sonification because of the galaxy cluster, containing a massive amount of gas and hundreds of galaxies. It acts as a medium for sound waves to move through.

NASA Shares Different Eerie Sounds of a Black Hole in a Remix

The New York Times said the Perseus black hole creates strange groans and rumbles through these new cosmic headphones. The sound reminded some listeners of the galumphing tones identifying an extraterrestrial radio broadcast heard through headphones by Jodie Foster in the science fiction film "Contact."

NASA recently released similar created sounds of light knots in a jet of energy erupting from a gigantic black hole at the core of the enormous galaxy known as M87 as part of an ongoing endeavor to "sonify" the cosmos. As a majestic series of symphonic tones, these sounds reach us across 53.5 million light-years.

Another sonification research has been launched by a team led by Erin Kara, an astrophysicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as part of an effort to map the environment around black holes using light echoes from X-ray bursts similar to how bats use sound to trap mosquitoes.

All of this is a result of NASA's annual "Black Hole Week," which runs from May 2 to 6. This week, however, serves as a build-up to huge news on May 12, when researchers from the Event Horizon Telescope, which captured the first image of a black hole in 2019, will reveal their newest findings.

Using data from NASA's Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER), experts searched for echoes or reflections of these X-ray bursts. The time lag between the original X-ray explosions and their echoes and distortions induced by their proximity to black holes' strange gravity provided insight into the genesis of these powerful bursts.

Meanwhile, Dr. Kara has been collaborating with educators and musicians to turn the X-ray reflections into audible sounds. The lights go all the way around the black hole in some simulations, she added, causing a telltale change in their wavelengths before being reflected.

How the Black Hole Week Soundtrack Started

Astronomers found Perseus' void-like center sent out pressure waves decades ago, CNet said. These waves bounce across all of the heated gas in the region, and those ripples, in turn, can be converted into sound.

Consider sound waves to be the vibration of air - or more precisely, the vibration of objects in the air. On Earth, our ears can collect such vibrations and convert them to audible sounds, but things are a bit different in space.

There is no medium for sound waves to travel through since space is a vacuum. This is why, in specific ways, space is regarded as entirely silent. However, this quiet is not due to the absence of space-borne noises. Their waves just have nothing to resonate against.

Because it's so near the Perseus galaxy cluster, the black hole breaks through the space vacuum sound barrier. It produces sound wave vibrations, which are the hot gas ripples scientists are interested in.

As a result, a team from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory transformed astronomical data from the gassy ripples into conventional sound waves people were familiar with on Earth in 2003. However, there was a significant impediment to us listening to the black hole's melody for an extended period.

Scientists discovered that Perseus' abyss plays a note 57 octaves below middle C after completing the translating, or sonification, procedure. That is where NASA's new black hole remix comes in. Our human ears can't hear it.

Check out more news and information on Space in Science Times.