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Digital Trends
13-05-2025
- Science
- Digital Trends
Listen to the sounds of a black hole with these NASA sonifications
Black holes are some of the most extreme objects in the cosmos. These massive, extraordinarily dense objects have such strong gravity that they suck in anything which comes to close to them — even light. But that doesn't mean that black holes are featureless. Although the black holes themselves are invisible, the clouds of dust and gas around them can get extremely hot and glow brightly, enabling telescopes to 'see' the black hole in detail. It's not just images that allow us to experience black holes though. NASA has produced a set of sonifications of black holes, turning these images into sounds as a different way to convey data collected by telescopes like the James Webb Space Telescope, Chandra X-ray Observatory, and Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE). Recommended Videos The three sonifications are shared below, showing three different stages in the life of a black hole. First up is WR 124, a type of star called a Wolf-Rayet which is a potential precursor to a black hole. As these old, massive stars come to the end of their lives, they start throwing off layers of gas into space, creating elaborate clouds around them. Eventually, when it has thrown off enough of its material, this star may collapse and become a new black hole. In the sonification, the sounds start at the center where the core is, and moving out the X-day data is represented by harp sounds while data from James Webb is represented by bells. The other infrared data, from three different telescopes, is represented by strings. The second sonification is of SS 433, a binary system consisting of a star like our sun and a much heavier partner which is thought to be either a black hole or a neutron star. The two objects orbit each other, creating changes in X-rays which are detectable by telescopes on Earth. Combining the X-ray data with infrared and radio, this sonification moves from right to left across the image. Points of light that are nearer the top of the image are represented by higher notes, while radio, infrared, and X-ray light is represented by low, medium, and high pitches. The stars in the background can be heard as water drop noises. Finally, Centaurus A is a nearby and well-known galaxy, which is famous for being extremely bright and giving off strong radio waves. At its heart, this galaxy hosts an enormous supermassive black hole which is the star of this sonification. The black hole gives out a jet which is the source of the radio waves, and the sonification traces its effect in radar style, moving clockwise and representing X-ray data from Chandra as wind chimes, with X-ray data from IXPE in a continuous wind sound.
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
NASA turns the screams of a dying star into music
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Scientists have transformed new data from space telescopes into cosmic soundscapes, turning the mysterious activity around black holes into a symphony of the universe. These auditory representations, or sonifications, were created using data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, James Webb Space Telescope and Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE). By assigning musical notes to various data points, space observations can be translated into sound, allowing listeners to "hear" the cosmos. The three new sonifications feature data from multiple celestial objects, each representing different aspects, or developmental stages, of black holes, according to a statement from NASA. The first melody captures the potential birth of a black hole. It surrounds a massive star named WR 124 violently shedding its outer layers, producing a glowing nebula of expelled gas and dust. Located about 28,000 light-years from Earth, WR 124 is known as a Wolf-Rayet star — a bright, short-lived massive star — and, as it nears the end of its life, the process of shedding its outer layers could end in a dramatic stellar explosion (called a supernova). That should leave behind a black hole. Related Stories: — Hubble Telescope sees wandering black hole slurping up stellar spaghetti — Scientists turn 3 years' worth of solar flares into audible sound (video) — Listen to the eerie sounds of an exploded star in new NASA video The sonification of WR 124 begins with a descending scream-like sound near the star's hot core and incorporates musical instruments like flutes, bells, harps and strings as the glowing stellar material expands outward, highlighting the nebula's turbulent, possibly transformative phase. The second sonification captures a cosmic duet from SS 433, a binary star system located 18,000 light-years from Earth where a sun-like star orbits a heavier companion — such as a neutron star or black hole. Fluctuating X-ray emissions are translated into different pitches and instruments, while chiming water drop sounds represent bright background stars and plucked notes signify the location of the duet amid a massive cloud of interstellar dust and gas. The third and final movement features Centaurus A, a galaxy located 12 million light-years from Earth with a supermassive black hole at its center that's launching a powerful jet across the galaxy. In this sonification, X-ray emissions are translated into wind chime and breeze-like sounds, while visible light data is transformed into string instrument tones, capturing the galaxy's stars and structure in a sweeping, musical finale.
