Imagine listening to the universe rather than merely looking at it. That's what NASA has accomplished—by translating the quietness of space into sound. With data from space telescopes, the agency has developed three new audio tracks that give voice to black holes.
Hearing black holes like never before
NASA's new project employs a technique known as sonification. It transmutes space data into sound, allowing us to conceptualise what black holes may "sound" like. The sounds were generated from data of the Chandra X-ray Observatory, James Webb Space Telescope, and Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE).
According to NASA, black holes are not silent or static. They change in size and behaviour based on their surroundings. The new sounds serve to emphasise their dynamic nature.
The first soundtrack addresses the potential birth of a black hole. It is from WR124, a 28,000-light-year-distant giant Wolf-Rayet star. The star sheds outer layers in bright shapes, imaged in infrared by the Webb telescope. The outer layers were sonified as gentle flute sounds. Background stars were converted to bell sounds.
At WR124's centre, a burning core could one day blow up as a supernova. It may collapse into a black hole afterwards. As the sound radiates outward, harp-like notes symbolise Chandra's X-ray pulses. The recording starts with a scream-like pitch and finishes with the smooth string melodies.
A cosmic duet and a galactic hum
The second soundtrack is a dance between two stars. It is in the SS 433 binary system, which is 18,000 light-years from Earth. One star is like our Sun. The other is either a black hole or a neutron star. They dance around each other in a cosmic duet.
NASA blended radio, infrared, and X-ray data to produce this tune. The radio waves from the nebula resemble a wandering manatee. Droplet tones mimic background stars. A constant beat accompanies the motion of the orbiting stars.
The last piece is based on information from Centaurus A. The galaxy is 12 million light-years away and contains a supermassive black hole at its centre. It emits a strong jet of material through space.
The X-rays from the black hole sound like wind chimes. A flowing wind sound depicts the jet. Strings mimic the visible light of stars, located in the background and foreground of the galaxy.
Bringing space sounds to Earth
The sonification project was initiated by the Chandra X-ray Centre. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and Universe of Learning initiative also assisted. The initiative is under NASA's Science Activation programme, which makes science more accessible to the public.
Through these sounds, NASA makes it easier for listeners to relate to faraway places. Black holes, previously only conceived in silence, now hum, scream, and dance on our ears.
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