Earth and Space

Musical black holes

Stories from Physics for 11-14 14-16 IOP RESOURCES

Observations made with NASA’s Chandra X-ray Telescope have detected sound waves produced by a super massive black hole. The waves were found emanating from a black hole in the Perseus cluster of galaxies and are equivalent to a B flat which is 57 octaves below middle C. The waves are thought to originate from the collapse of cavities formed in the gas surrounding the black hole.

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IOP AWARDS 2025

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