 Parzival  | 23 Aug 2022 7:23 a.m. PST |
While it's true that space is largely a vacuum, and thus transmits no sound, NASA has discovered a nebula so densely packed with gas that it does carry audible sound, centered on a black hole. And it's creepy as… well, Hell. YouTube link Note: Some of the sound is actually NASA's "sonification" of data, turning data points into notes based on light intensity, etc.. But at the core is a very low C note (about 57 octaves below "middle C"), actually produced within the nebula, which is within human audible range. Loop that at as your "background music" for your next space game and watch the players become seriously creeped out.  |
| Dave Jackson | 23 Aug 2022 7:28 a.m. PST |
yea…..thousands of lost souls as chaos devours them…. |
| Arjuna | 23 Aug 2022 9:30 a.m. PST |
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| Parzival | 23 Aug 2022 9:59 a.m. PST |
Disney (and John Barry) had an almost prescient take: YouTube link |
| Choctaw | 23 Aug 2022 11:12 a.m. PST |
Pretty sure that is the laugh track to "Seinfeld" being played backwards at half speed. |
| BuckeyeBob | 23 Aug 2022 11:53 a.m. PST |
So once the sound reaches the edge of the dense gas nebula, how is it transmitted from that edge to Earth since all that space beyond the dense gas is a vaccum? |
| robert piepenbrink | 23 Aug 2022 2:19 p.m. PST |
As with extrasolar planets, if there is a flaw in NASA's thinking, we'd need an FTL drive to find out. I don't say they're wrong, but I can't take it seriously. |
| Zephyr1 | 23 Aug 2022 2:34 p.m. PST |
"The Sound of a Black Hole— Yes, for real."
"And strangely, it sounds like someone slurping soup…" (I made that last part up… ;-) |
| Parzival | 23 Aug 2022 3:07 p.m. PST |
Buckeye Bob, I would think that the information is derived from visible movement within the nebula's dust cloud that indicates sound waves transmitting through the medium. It would be similar to having a video of a string vibrating, and interpreting that data to reproduce the sound that vibration actually made. Converting visual light to sound has long been a technology we have, both in analog forms (old sound movie projectors) and digital forms (CDs). In this case, NASA can "see" the sound waves, and thus can convert the data back into an approximation of the original sound.
That's a guess, but I expect it's more or less the correct answer. |
| skipper John | 23 Aug 2022 4:12 p.m. PST |
Hey, my abdomen sounds like that when I have gas too! |
| Oberlindes Sol LIC | 23 Aug 2022 6:45 p.m. PST |
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| Covert Walrus | 24 Aug 2022 11:10 p.m. PST |
Parzival, pretty much the answer.
Other "tones" are data on brightness and radio-length emission re-interpreted as sounds. |
looks at another boxed set of cyborgs.