NASA releases an eerie audio recording from the black hole
NASA just shared the spooky sounds coming from a black hole. Although it seems so silent in the vast outer space, the space agency revealed that black holes also emit noises. Surprisingly, it sounds similar to ghostly alien wails and moans.
On Monday, NASA shared an audio clip of creepy sounds on their Twitter account for exoplanet programs. The sounds came from waves of pressure, which vibrated back from the black hole through a group of galaxies.
The NASA account tweeted, “The misconception that there is no sound in space originates because most space is a vacuum. It provides no way for sound waves to travel. A galaxy cluster has so much gas that we’ve picked up actual sound.”
However, the sound is out of human hearing range at 57 octaves below middle C. NASA originally released the audio clip in May. NASA shared a more pleasing sound when the space agency first published the clip. You can listen to the clip below where NASA caught the creepy black hole sound resonating through the Perseus galaxy cluster.
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
Black Hole sound’s first release
Its first release also came from the Chandra telescope’s X-ray data. In addition, it also combines audio translations of optical data from the Hubble Space Telescope and radio waves from the Atacama Large Millimeter Array located in Chile. As a result of the data mix-up that required more creativity, NASA made it appear like a serene, beautiful sound.
However, this audio clip they released is raw. You can hear the original sound without any enhancements. And it’s pretty chilling. Moreover, this new post lit up the Twitterverse, earning 11.5 million views.
CNN anchor Jim Sciutto wrote on Twitter, “This is cool – and really, really spooky.” He isn’t alone in this reaction as others say the noise is “creepy.”
Elizabeth Bowen, a Canadian actress, also compared it to “that scene in the movie when someone accidentally stumbles upon some sort of satanic cult in the middle of the woods.”
Astronomy blogger Phil Plait also said, “Everyone is talking about how eerie this is but to me, the way it just cuts off is by far the creepiest part.”
NASA quickly replied that “it was not intentionally made “ominous.” The space agency also confirmed that it’s a misconception that there’s no sound in space.
