The teams of the largest virtual telescope in the world, the Event Horizon Telescope, revealed Thursday, May 12, 2022 the first photograph of Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole observed in the center of the Milky Way. According to Numeramathe scientists then transformed this image into sound waves before putting the audio files online, the next day, on the site of the Chandra observatory et on his YouTube channel.
According to our colleagues, it was by using sonification that the experts were able to achieve this scientific feat. This process consists in transforming data into acoustic form by using, in this case, the wavelengths and the differences in luminosity revealed by a change in volume visible on the image.
Three-dimensional sound
In other words, no direct recording of the sound emitted by the black hole, also located 27,000 light years from us, has been made. But the result is there. However, the scientists recommend wearing headphones so that you can listen to these files produced in binaural audio, a method that reproduces sound in three dimensions to promote immersion.
Sound frequencies are higher when the scan is close to the core of the black hole, an area where matter is moving rapidly and sound waves accelerate. Ultimately, the researchers intend to continue using sonification to discover new information about black holes and, why not, one day capture videos.