Washington-NASA releases audio clip emitting sound waves from supermassive black hole at the heart of the Perseus galaxy cluster, more than 250 million light-years away. For the first time, this cosmic sound is being sonified so humans can hear it.
A supermassive black hole in the centre of the Perseus galaxy cluster sends shock waves that reverberate through surrounding gas. Though space is a near vacuum, sound waves could propagate through the region’s dense gas, even if they occur at frequencies far below that which could be heard by the human ear. Sound waves carry in pristine form the lowest note yet detected in the universe – B-flat 57 octaves below middle C. To put that into perspective, its pitch corresponds to a frequency of one vibration every 10 million years.
These waves were shifted up by 57 and 58 octaves in the sonification by NASA in 2022 to raise the pitch to a level wherein the eerie hums became audible to the human ear. The sound derived from the outcome was played in an anti-clockwise direction from the center of the black hole, mimicking the way that these sound waves would reverberate across space. In fact, the frequencies were increased 144 quadrillion and 288 quadrillion times more than the original ones in order to produce this exclusive auditory experience.
These sound waves are believed to interact with the intracluster medium, a hot, dense plasma that fills intergalactic space within galaxy clusters. They are very important to study about evolution in galaxy clusters because they could influence star formation as they would regulate or control gas cooling and distribution over long time scales.
The Perseus black hole audio is a part of the on-going NASA efforts to listen to cosmic phenomena through sonification, opening up new avenues where the public and researchers can connect with the mysteries of space.
While contemplating over this finding, scientists realize that the universe is full of vastness as well as hidden forces. It encompasses the making and development of galaxies.
