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A Deep Voice From Deep Space
Washington Post ^
| September 10, 2003
| Guy Gugliotta
Posted on 09/24/2003 10:39:57 AM PDT by tang-soo
Edited on 09/24/2003 10:42:36 AM PDT by Admin Moderator.
[history]
Astronomers for the first time have detected sound waves emanating from a supermassive black hole, researchers said yesterday. With a frequency of 10 million years, the wave is the deepest "note" ever found in the universe -- a B-flat that is 57 octaves below a piano's middle C.
Researchers said heat generated by the sound wave may explain why gases moving within clusters of galaxies do not cool down to form more stars -- an anomaly that has puzzled astrophysicists for years.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: scienceastronomy
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To: KayEyeDoubleDee
I knew it wasn't a perfect vacuum, but I guess I didn't realize it was imperfect enough to allow sounds to travel millions of light years. I guess anything is possible with sensitive enough detectors or a loud enough noise.
To: CO_dreamer
Probably the guy who was with the Oak Ridge Boys.
22
posted on
09/24/2003 11:17:42 AM PDT
by
JRjr
(hMMM?)
To: Izzy Dunne
This is really for everyone not just Izzy Dunne :-) Science catching up with the Bible? Not bloody likely, ever! :-) The Bible is a very old and unchanging compendium of opinion. It is inflexible and fixed as surely as a photograph from the American Civil War is fixed or an Egyptian hieroglyph is fixed upon the wall of an ancient tomb. The Bible is an archeological work. Those who choose to believe the Bible is more than ancient speculation and wishful thinking, will never change their opinion because for them it is all a matter of faith in that arcane philosophical position.
Science on the other hand is dynamic, flexible, moving, in a neverending process of change as new information is uncovered. I do not say 'discovered', because the information is all out there in the Universe, regardless of whether or not we are aware of it.
Black holes were still only theoretical less then 10 years ago, now they are confirmed as real and are known to be the central feature of most if not all galaxies. They are also found in locations other then galacic centers. A black hole 'singing' a continuous B-flat monotone in any octave is certainly a new wrinkle in the cosmological fabric, to be sure, but how that relates to anything Biblical is a deeper mystery to me than the phenomenon itself :-)
To: Izzy Dunne
Go down 57 octaves, and the wavelength is 2^57 times middle C. The frequency of the Bb below middle C is about 233 Hz. That is about 7.3 x 10 ^9 cycles per year. 2^57 is about 1.44 x 10^17. So each cycle of this "sound" last about 10 million years.
To: CO_dreamer
"XM radio doesn't receive sound, it receives radio waves and translates them into sound".
I HEARD that!
25
posted on
09/24/2003 11:42:17 AM PDT
by
Graybeard58
(I always wanted to be somebody, but I should have been more specific.)
To: Graybeard58
"Astronomers for the first time have detected sound waves emanating from a supermassive black hole"
When I read that I thought I was about to read another article about Cynthia McKinney.
26
posted on
09/24/2003 11:46:00 AM PDT
by
Graybeard58
(I always wanted to be somebody, but I should have been more specific.)
To: Izzy Dunne
So each cycle of this "sound" last about 10 million years. Oops, 20 million.
To: Izzy Dunne
Just because a note is below the range of a piano keyboard or even human hearing doesn't mean it can't exist.
True, but one shouldn't call this "sound". Actually I think using a sound scale is the best way to describe how low the frequency is. If you were to describe it in hertz, it would be a very very tiny fraction of 1 hz, which most people including me, would probably just gloss over.
28
posted on
09/24/2003 11:53:04 AM PDT
by
Bacon Man
(Bacon is never wrong but occasionally fried.)
To: Cronos
LUUUUKE...I AM YOUR FATHER...:-)
To: Izzy Dunne
Did it say, "All your base are belong to us"?
30
posted on
09/24/2003 12:01:40 PM PDT
by
4mycountry
(You say I'm a brat like it's a bad thing.)
To: tang-soo
Space burped? Must be the Krystal Chili it had(Southern reference)
31
posted on
09/24/2003 12:04:52 PM PDT
by
sticker
To: gitmo
Gotta have a long left arm to hit that note.
LOL
It's the infamous "Brown Note" from South Park!
Evereybody! Have a change of UNDERWEAR ready!!!!
32
posted on
09/24/2003 12:15:26 PM PDT
by
Itzlzha
(The avalanche has already started...it is too late for the pebbles to vote!)
To: CO_dreamer
Bingo.
33
posted on
09/24/2003 12:17:38 PM PDT
by
null and void
(Life is like a sewer, what you get out of it depends entirely on what you put into it. - Hen3ry)
To: Mr. William
Black holes were still only theoretical less then 10 years ago, now they are confirmed as real and are known to be the central feature of most if not all galaxies.
Black Holes are the places where G_d was dividing by zero...
34
posted on
09/24/2003 12:18:25 PM PDT
by
Itzlzha
(The avalanche has already started...it is too late for the pebbles to vote!)
To: tang-soo
One of my favorite all-time scriptures.
35
posted on
09/24/2003 12:19:58 PM PDT
by
Skooz
(All Hail the Mighty Kansas City Chiefs)
To: Izzy Dunne
I think he means 57 and two twelfths octaves, but he rounded off... In which case he ought to have said 57 and some obscure fraction off. But I know where he's coming from. As I've grown older I, also, have tended to round [in this case] up.
To: tang-soo
I say it's more of an A-sharp than a B-flat.
To: curmudgeonII
As I've grown older I, also, have tended to round.Ditto. I think it's the lack of excercise.
38
posted on
09/24/2003 12:33:40 PM PDT
by
Skooz
(All Hail the Mighty Kansas City Chiefs)
To: mtbopfuyn
That would be a C#.
39
posted on
09/24/2003 12:34:29 PM PDT
by
Skooz
(All Hail the Mighty Kansas City Chiefs)
To: tang-soo
It was an echo from a Throat Singers of Tuva concert held in Siberia recently.
40
posted on
09/24/2003 12:38:22 PM PDT
by
Consort
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