Scientists from NASA have released an eerie, Hans Zimmer-like audio from a radar that captured sounds from a black hole at the centre of the Perseus galaxy cluster. The actual sound waves were discovered in data collected by NASA’s Chandra X-ray observatory and have been converted from astronomical data into human-hearable sound. The release coincides with Black Hole Week.
Astronomers found that ripples in the hot gas surrounding the Perseus black hole could be converted to sound.
Listen to the audio clip here:
NASA stated that it was a popular misconception that “there is no sound in space” because most of space is a vacuum, which leaves no medium for sound waves to travel. The space agency further explained that galaxy clusters consist of copious amounts of gas that envelop the hundreds and even thousands of galaxies, thus providing a medium for the sound waves to travel.
According to Sky News, this sonification is different from previous efforts that simply translated astronomical data into an auditory form using different instruments. This time, the agency resynthesized the soundwaves to accommodate the human hearing range, scaling them upwards by 57 and 58 octaves above their real pitch. But these sounds were not replayed using violins or other instruments.
The audio sounds spookily like a score by noted composer Hans Zimmer, who has given the soundtrack for science-fiction hits including Blade Runner 2049 and Interstellar.
These sonifications, which were led by the Chandra X-ray Center (CXC), were a part of NASA’s Universe of Learning (UoL) program with support from the Goddard Space Flight Center/ Hubble Space Telescope. The collaboration was led by visualization scientist Kimberly Arcand (CXC), musician Andrew Santaguida and astrophysicist Matt Russo, (both of the SYSTEMS Sound project). The Chandra program is handled by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.
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