This is certainly one place you would not want to end up
NASA has shared audio captured from inside a black hole – and it sounds like something ripped straight out of a science-fiction movie.
When you think about it, humanity truly lucked out developing on our wonderful, ozone layer-protected planet Earth.
This notion becomes even more apparent when you consider just how terrifying space can be, with black holes certainly being one of the creepier parts of the interstellar structure.
Ever wondered what one of these bad boys sounds like? (Getty Stock Image)
Our understanding of black holes is constantly evolving. Thanks to the hard work of scientists over at NASA, we learnt in 2019 that a black hole has the appearance of a pixelated glazed doughnut (no, we’re not joking).
We also have a pretty good idea of the horrifying fate which awaits anyone who just so happens to find themselves falling into a black hole. But have you ever wondered what it sounds like inside one?
Thanks to NASA, we have an answer for that as well.
Back in 2022 astronomers were able to capture audio coming from a black hole in the Perseus cluster of galaxies, which is located around located 250 million light-years away from Earth.
Take a listen to the creepy clip below:
Inside a black hole
NASA/CXC/SAO/K.Arcand, SYSTEM Sounds
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A lot of people will probably be familiar with the argument that because space is a vacuum it is impossible for their to be any sound.
However, this may be a bit of ‘popular misconception’ according to NASA.
“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 space agency said at the time, as per The Guardian.
However, when it came to the black hole in the Perseus galaxy, astronomers at NASA’s Chandra X-ray observatory were able to record ripples from the hot gas surrounding the hole and translate it into audio which can be heard by humans.
“A galaxy cluster has so much gas that we’ve picked up actual sound,” it added.
NASA has since been able to scale the sound upward by around ’57 and 58 octaves above their true pitch’ so we could listen to the sound of deep space.
Maybe the black hole was just having a bad day (NASA)
The end result? An ominous groaning noise that sounds like thousands of trapped extraterrestrial souls yearning to be free of the black hole they’ve found themselves imprisoned in.
This definitely brings a whole new perspective to the relative safety of life on Earth.
Personally, I don’t know what is worse, the creepy groaning noise emitted from black holes or the fact that falling into one would see you become subject to the unimaginable horrors of spaghetti-fication.Featured Image Credit: Getty Stock Images
Brenna Cooper
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Updated 08:31 18 Dec 2024 GMTPublished 08:15 18 Dec 2024 GMT
NASA shares major update on astronauts stranded in space as rescue mission is delayed
They were only planning to spend a few days in space, that was back in June
Two astronauts who are stranded up on the International Space Station will have to wait even longer for rescue.
You might have been following the story of NASA astronauts Barry ‘Butch’ Wilmore, 61, and Sunita ‘Suni’ Williams, 59, and their eight day mission which has left them in space a lot longer than they planned.
NASA astronaut speaks out
Credit: NASA
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On 5 June they embarked on what ought to have been a mission to space that lasted little over a week, but a wrench was thrown into the works when technical faults occurred and left the pair of them stuck in space and waiting for a return trip.
They had flown up to the ISS in Boeing’s Starliner, but the spacecraft developed a number of faults on the way and it was decided that the astronauts would not make their scheduled return trip in it.
When the spacecraft returned to Earth it was decided that Wilmore and Williams would not be on board, and with the way crew handover works up in space they were stuck waiting for the next chance to rotate off the station.
Barry ‘Butch’ Wilmore and Sunita ‘Suni’ Williams went up to space in June for a mission which should have lasted just a few days (MIGUEL J. RODRIGUEZ CARRILLO/AFP via Getty Images)
While the astronauts had been due to come back from space by the end of February, NASA has now explained that there’s some more bad news on the way for the duo.
NASA said that the rescue mission had been delayed by at least another month as SpaceX apparently needs more time to get their new Dragon capsule ready for launch.
Instead of going up to the International Space Station in February it will instead not be launching before March.
There are other capsules which could possibly be used, but in order to keep things all on schedule the plan is currently to stick with what’s already happening.
“Fabrication, assembly, testing, and final integration of a new spacecraft is a painstaking endeavor that requires great attention to detail,” NASA’s Steve Sitch said of the delays.
Their rescue mission has been delayed as SpaceX are still getting things ready (NASA / Getty Images)
“We appreciate the hard work by the SpaceX team to expand the Dragon fleet in support of our missions and the flexibility of the station programme and expedition crews as we work together to complete the new capsule’s readiness for flight.”
While the duo of stranded astronauts face an even longer wait than expected there have been some concerns over their health.
Some people seeing photos of the pair had been worried that they were suffering from malnutrition, though NASA have said all of their astronauts regularly undergo health checks and the astronauts themselves have said they’re in good health.
While some people might dream of going to space it’s possible that these two would very much like to come back down to Earth.Featured Image Credit: MIGUEL J. RODRIGUEZ CARRILLO/AFP via Getty Images / NASA / Getty Images
Joe Harker
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Published 19:11 26 Nov 2024 GMT
NASA shared terrifying simulation that showed how it would feel to fall into a black hole
Let’s reignite those irrational space fears
A NASA simulation shows what it would be like to fall into a black hole – and it might not be exactly how you expect.
I don’t know about you lot, but when I was in school, we all seemed to go through this phase of having an irrational fear of black holes.
For some reason, plenty of us seemed convinced one was going to swallow us all up. Perhaps the whole idea that 2012 was going to be the end of the world had something to do with it… how far we’ve come.
But we’d have chats about what it might feel like as we woke up from nightmares of falling into a black hole.
And perhaps it’s something you’re still scared of now. In which case, this terrifying simulation from NASA probably won’t help.
It’s not exactly a dream scenario (NASA)
User AstroKobi shares educational videos on YouTube and featured the science clip on his account.
He explains how the video zooms in, you can see the ‘event horizon’ of the black hole. This is essentially the ‘point of no return’, aka the boundary where the escape velocity equals the speed of light.
“If you pass beyond that black barrier, there is no coming back,” the user stresses.
He goes on to explain that the black hole used is ‘4.3 million times more massive than our sun’.
“To create a simulation this detailed, it took NASA’s supercomputers five days,” AstroKobi explains, “and generated over 10 terabytes of data.
“It would take your laptop more than a decade to complete.”
Falling into black hole simulation
Credit: NASA
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The simulation shows that as you get closer to the black hole, time starts to slow down, with the effect getting stronger as keep closing in.
What is a few seconds for you, ‘becomes a few hours for everybody else’ watching you from outside of it.
AstroKobi explains: “Time and space appear to warp as you circle the event horizon, getting closer and closer until you hit it.
“The light of the universe fades away and within a few milliseconds, you become one with the black hole’s singularity.”
Once you’re past the event horizon, there’s no going back (NASA)
The user continues to narrate that to an observer from the outside of the black hole, ‘you would have just frozen on the event horizon’ and faded away slowly from existence.
Scary, right? I can already feel those nightmares coming back tonight as I imagine myself in the NASA simulation, slowly and slowly tumbling through the black hole until I suddenly disappear.
Great.Featured Image Credit: NASA
Jess Battison
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Published 18:29 7 May 2024 GMT+1
NASA’s first-person simulation shows what it would be like falling into a black hole
The highly detailed simulation reveals how light changes when you get sucked in to a black hole
We’ve all heard about the possibility at school or through films, getting sucked into a black hole would be one of the most torturous and painful deaths in the universe.
But there’s so much more to be known about black holes, seeing as we only captured our first photo of one about five years ago.
Several will wonder what it’s actually like to fall into one, if it’s as bad as it sounds, and how it looks.
Well, count on NASA to take advantage of technology to put together a highly advanced simulation of the process:
NASA simulates Black Hole plunge
YouTube/NASA Goddard
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This brand new animation, which was uploaded to YouTube yesterday (6 May), showcases exactly how terrifying it would be to fall into the dark abyss of a black hole.
The highly advanced video took just five days to put together on just 0.3 percent of the 129,000 processors that are part of NASA’s Discover supercomputer, located at the NASA centre for Climate Simulation in Greenbelt, Maryland.
A regular laptop would have taken over 10 years to go through the same process, as over 10 terabytes of data would have needed to be processed.
In the video, we approach a supermassive black hole that has a mass 4.3 million times greater than our Sun, comparative with the colossal black hole located in the centre of the Milky Way galaxy.
The simulation was incredibly detailed. (NASA)
The event horizon (aka the point of no return) spans approximately 16 million miles, or around 17 percent of the distance from the Earth to the Sun.
Physics professor at the University of Sussex, Xavier Calmet, said that the gravitational force of a black hole would become so intense that we would experience something called ‘spaghettification’.
“Your body will be stretched into a shape similar to that of a long pasta until it is reaped apart by the strong gravitational force,” he told The Daily Mail.
Sounds lovely.
The space agency further explained the video: “This new, immersive visualisation produced on a NASA supercomputer represents a scenario where a camera just misses the event horizon and slingshots back out.”
At the start of the video, we approach the void, seeing the bright orange ‘accretion disk’, which is a hot disk of gas that orbits the black hole, acting as its main source of light.
It’s made up of various material that emits energy, as it falls into the black hole, whether it’s gas, dust or matter – also seen is the thinner proton sphere, a thin ring of light formed near the black hole’s event horizon.
As we enter the black hole, we begin to spin as all light around us looks like it’s bending as we move further and further from any trace of light for eternity.
Everything looks warped and becomes distant once you get sucked in. (NASA)
NASA say that the video is largely sped up, reacting about 60 percent the speed of light to show the process in just about a minute – with the viewpoint meant to represent the perspective of an astronaut if humans were ever able to reach a black hole.
Jeremy Schnittman, an astrophysicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Centre, explained: “If you have the choice, you want to fall into a supermassive black hole.
“Stellar-mass black holes, which contain up to about 30 solar masses, possess much smaller event horizons and stronger tidal forces, which can rip apart approaching objects before they get to the horizon.”Featured Image Credit: NASA
Topics: Space, NASA, Science, Technology
Joshua Nair
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Updated 16:37 18 Dec 2024 GMTPublished 16:38 18 Dec 2024 GMT
Professor Brian Cox gives terrifying answer about what would happen to human if they fell into black hole
The answer is much scarier than we anticipated
Ever wondered what would happen if you fell into a black hole? Well, Professor Brian Cox has all the answers.
As unlikely as a scenario that would be, it’s always best to be prepared – and it’s clearly something that many have wondered about, given that there’s a few simulations of what it would look like, with one even coming from NASA themselves.
Professor Brian Cox explains black hole theory
Credit: LADbible
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So if you wanted a visual representation, then you can see that here, but if you’d prefer to just hear about it then look no further.
Sitting down with LADbible, the physicist has revealed exactly what would happen to a human’s body if they found themselves inside a black hole.
Should you find yourself in a small black hole, you’d be instantly ripped apart due to the force of gravity, Cox explained.
However, his answer does depend on the enormity of the black hole.
Professor Brian Cox shared his thoughts on black holes (LADbible)
“It depends on the mass of the black hole is the technical answer. So, if it’s a small black hole, by which I mean just a few times the mass of our Sun, then you’d get ripped apart by the tidal gravitational forces before you actually fell in,” he said.
“So, as you approach the event horizon of the black hole, it becomes very nasty.”
However, the consequences of falling into a large black hole are very different.
Cox used the two black holes that have been photographed as examples; one in the centre of the Milky Way, and another in the centre of a galaxy called M87.
If you fell towards M87, he revealed that you’d initially be unaffected and inside the black hole for over 24 hours until anything happened to your body, adding: “As far as we know, you would fall across the horizon into the interior of the black hole, and you’d be unaffected.
“You wouldn’t notice as you fell across the horizon.
A black hole is strong enough so that nothing can escape (Getty Stock Images)
“And then, you’d have something like 30 hours-ish inside the black hole until you approach the singularity which is in your future when you cross the horizon. So, it’s not something you can avoid.”
You’d then be ‘Spaghettified’ and arrive at the end of time, as outlined in Einstein’s theory.
The process of being ‘Spaghettified’ is exactly as it sounds – the human body is stretched out by the gravitational pull as the gravity at your feet would be much stronger than at your head in a black hole.
This results in the body being pulled longer and thinner, before eventually passing the event horizon.
At this point, time would seem to slow down for somebody observing from outside, but for you, time would seem to be speeding up.
Ultimately, you’d be crushed by the immense gravity in a black hole regardless of its size and forever lost in its depth.
To quote Cox, ‘not too nice’.