NASA just released an audio recording of a black hole—those things in space that have so much gravitational force not even light can escape them—and, well... it's just not okay.
It's not okay.
The audio was collected from the Perseus galaxy cluster by astronomers, heavily amplified and then mixed with other data to create sound we humans can actually hear.
And good lord, it is absolutely terrifying.
Hear it below if you feel like never sleeping again.
Oh, okay, so space is composed of the disembodied souls of millions of years of the dead.
That explains where they went and why ghosts don't want to go there.
Terrifying though it may be, you must admit it's fascinating. In its tweet, NASA addressed the common misconception there is no sound in space, since there is no matter for sound waves to react with.
But as NASA revealed, it turns out that's not always true. The Perseus galaxy cluster is one of the exceptions.
It has so much hot gas content sound waves were able to travel and be recorded, just like when you've eaten too many beans.
Sorry, we just thought maybe a fart joke would help defuse how absolutely terrifying this recording is.
Anyway, the creepiness is unintentional, according to NASA, a result of the extreme amplification used to make the sound audible to human ears.
The sound emanating from the black hole—first discovered in 2003—is far too low for us to hear at 57 octaves below a middle C. So NASA resynthesized it to pitch it upward into our audible range, creating this horrifying but nonetheless fascinating bit of audio.
As you might guess, Twitter lost its collective mind over this audio track and a veritable galaxy of absurdity ensued.
Interestingly, some Hindus posted the audio sounded a lot like "OM"—the sound of a sacred symbol meant to represent the collective sound of the universe in some Eastern religions.
One Twitter user was able to use different data to create a second version of the black hole's sound.
Their remix is every bit as fascinating, but much less terrifying.
You can hear it below.
Sorry.
We couldn't resist the Rick Roll.
But maybe now that you're laughing, you'll be able to go to sleep tonight.
@thekalenallen/Threads
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