Audio from a Black Hole?
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Probably the last cries of help from an alien spaceship...
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I thought that in space no one can hear you scream?
"The misconception that there is no sound in space originates because most space is a ~vacuum, providing no way for sound waves to travel," the NASA team said. "A galaxy cluster has so much gas that we’ve picked up actual sound. Here it’s amplified, and mixed with other data, to hear a black hole!"
TODAY hosts Hoda Kotb, Craig Melvin, Al Roker and Tom Llamas reacted on Tuesday to the video, which comes from a black hole 250 million light years away from Earth.
Hoda's jaw dropped while listening to the clip, while Al explained how scientists were able to create the audio.
"Well, it picked up the sound because of the amount of gas that a galaxy cluster has," Al said while laughing.
"Don't, Al, I'm begging you," Hoda responded, trying to hold in her giggles.
"So, so, so ... there's that," Al continued with a smile.
The issue with the note is it is about 57 octaves below middle C, meaning humans can't hear it, NASA says. But researchers produced a new sonification, or a translation of astronomical data into sound, for Black Hole Week earlier this year.
