00:00NASA has recently revealed some eerie cosmic sounds that go against the popular misconception about the muteness of space.
00:10This discovery proves once again that the universe is far from silent.
00:16The revelation came from the Perseus Galaxy Cluster, located 250 million light-years away from Earth.
00:23There, NASA uncovered an unworldly howling coming from the supermassive black hole at its center.
00:35This discovery isn't super fresh. It was made in 2003.
00:40It marked the first time scientists detected an acoustic phenomenon from such a distant source.
00:46Sadly, the sound was not something you would be able to hear.
00:49Its frequency was just too low for the human ear to register.
00:53The lowest pitch the human ear can perceive is 20 hertz, 20 cycles per second.
00:59But the sound emitted by the black hole is a B-flat, 57 octaves below middle C, with a frequency of 10 million years.
01:09But NASA brought it to the realm of human hearing in 2022, turning that invisible sound into something you could actually experience.
01:18It was a breakthrough of cosmic proportions when NASA revealed that sound waves could travel through space.
01:28Specifically, through the medium of the Perseus Galaxy Cluster.
01:32This medium is a hot, dense gas, something far more substantial than the empty vacuum between galaxies.
01:39That's how sound waves manage to travel there.
01:42Those sound waves produced by the supermassive black hole at the center of Perseus resonate through the hot gas as ripples.
01:51It's like how sound travels through water here on Earth.
01:55The thing is, space is indeed a vacuum, which means that sound cannot travel through it, in the traditional sense.
02:04But the gas surrounding the black hole in Perseus provided the perfect environment for sound to travel.
02:09The black hole's powerful jets create ripples, sending vibrations through the gas.
02:15And NASA scientists have identified those vibrations as a type of cosmic sound.
02:20Previously, it was totally invisible and unhearable.
02:24But now, for the first time, astronomers have helped it to take a form humans can hear.
02:29To give us a sense of how deep this sound is, NASA raised its pitch by 57 octaves so that it could finally be audible to the human ear.
02:42The result is a haunting, bass-heavy hum.
02:48It feels as though it is resonating from the very core of space itself.
02:54What NASA did is called sonification.
02:57This process involves mapping the characteristics of the data to audible sound.
03:02As a result, we can experience something that is otherwise beyond our perception.
03:07See those brighter areas of the cluster?
03:10They produce louder and higher-pitched tones.
03:15The sonification of the Perseus black hole isn't just a scientific discovery.
03:20It has allowed us to see, or should I say, hear, the universe in a completely different way.
03:27NASA has used this technique on several different space objects, including stars, nebulae, and galaxies, giving us a glimpse into the various ways space can sound.
03:41One of the coolest NASA's sonifications is Cassiopeia A.
03:47It's the remains of a star spotted as a supernova more than 300 years ago.
03:53Located around 10,000 light-years away from Earth, this shattered remnant of a once-massive star has a neutron star at its core.
04:02And it's the youngest neutron star in our galaxy that we know about.
04:08To perform the sonification of Cassiopeia A, NASA took the data captured by the Chandra X-ray Observatory and translated it into sound.
04:21Starting at the center, a triangle-shaped tone marks the location of the neutron star.
04:27Then, the sound spreads outward, which represents the expanding debris field.
04:32That's when the pitch rises and the tones become brighter.
04:36The sound grows louder and seems to mirror the outbursts of the supernova and the formation of new elements.
04:43The Tarantula Nebula, located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, is a hotbed of star formation and one of the most active regions in the universe.
04:54Astronomers have been studying this nebula for a long time to learn more about how stars are born and evolve.
05:01So, no wonder that NASA scientists have been doing their best to translate the data from the nebula into sound.
05:09They've been mapping brightness and pitch to various features in the nebula.
05:13So, airy, synthesizer-like tones represent the chaotic and hot gases surrounding the most massive stars.
05:23And the cooler gases that are forming new stars have soft, low notes.
05:28Piano-like tones correspond to the brightest stars.
05:32And the central cluster of stars sounds like a rain stick.
05:37Interestingly, NASA's investigation into the sounds of space doesn't just involve cosmic phenomena.
05:45It's also based on the experiences of astronauts.
05:49And some of them are truly eerie.
05:52After all, space exploration is always filled with unexpected surprises.
05:57And sometimes, those surprises come in the form of strange noises aboard spacecraft.
06:06One such incident occurred aboard the International Space Station, when astronaut Butch Wilmore reported hearing a strange noise coming from Boeing's Starliner spacecraft.
06:17By that time, this spaceship had been docked at the station for almost three months.
06:22The Starliner had just completed an eight-day mission that went awry.
06:26The technical issues have been plaguing the spacecraft ever since.
06:31Wilmore described the sound as a pulsing noise, similar to a sonar ping.
06:36It was coming through the spacecraft's speaker system.
06:43This strange noise made Wilmore contact NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.
06:49Of course, Mission Control immediately began investigating.
06:52They were able to listen to the audio inside the Starliner.
06:56Wilmore even held his microphone up to the speaker so that NASA could hear it more clearly.
07:02The people in charge of the investigation finally identified the source of the noise.
07:09They announced there was an audio configuration issue with the ISS's complex communication system.
07:16The thing is, this system connects numerous spacecraft and modules.
07:21And such configurations can sometimes lead to strange noises.
07:25NASA reassured everyone that such an issue wasn't really unusual.
07:30At the same time, they encourage astronauts to report any unexpected sounds they come across.
07:36At the same time, this incident was just another proof of how tricky it is to maintain advanced spacecraft systems in orbit.
07:47The Starliner had already faced serious delays and setbacks.
07:52And every new issue added extra pressure.
07:55Everyone was worried about the spacecraft's safe return to Earth.
07:59In any case, it's not the only incident involving eerie space sounds.
08:05In 1969, during the Apollo 10 mission, astronauts heard something truly bizarre while orbiting the Moon.
08:12Now, Apollo 10 was a dry run for the historic Apollo 11 moon landing.
08:19This mission involved astronauts Thomas Stafford, John Young, and Eugene Cerny.
08:25They were testing the systems of the lunar module.
08:28Everything was going smoothly.
08:30And then, they started passing behind the Moon.
08:33In that region, radio signals from Earth couldn't reach them.
08:38At that point, they all started hearing a strange, high-pitched whistling sound.
08:50It was coming through their headsets.
08:52The origin of this noise baffled the astronauts since it wasn't supposed to exist in the near vacuum of space.
08:58At first, they simply joked that it sounded like outer space music.
09:03But in reality, the situation was quite unnerving.
09:07The astronauts were on the dark side of the Moon, far away from Earth and any help.
09:12And now, there was also that eerie, mysterious sound they couldn't explain.
09:18At the same time, NASA was super worried about astronauts' health and mental condition.
09:24So, the crew didn't immediately report the noise to mission control.
09:29But after they returned to Earth, NASA engineers thoroughly investigated the phenomenon.
09:34They came to the conclusion that the sound had most likely come from the spacecraft's communications system.
09:40The reason could be the unusual circumstances of the mission.
09:44After all, the spacecraft was kinda cut off Earth.
09:47The Moon was between it and our planet.
09:51Still, even after this extensive analysis, the origin and nature of the whistle is still a great mystery for many people.
10:01Anyway, all these new discoveries and old cosmic puzzles prove that the universe is far from silent.
10:08It hums, roars, whispers and reveals the mysteries of the cosmos one note at a time.
10:15In the future, as our technological abilities continue to evolve,
10:19NASA's work with sonification and its study of strange astronaut experiences will likely lead to even more awesome discoveries.
10:28And if we listen more closely, we may find that the universe is much more talkative than we think.
10:35That's it for today. So hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like and share it with your friends.
10:42Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the Bright Side!
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