NASA has successfully captured and made audible the sounds from a supermassive black hole at the centre of the Perseus galaxy cluster, located around 250 million light-years from Earth. These sounds originate from pressure waves travelling through the hot, dense gas (called the intra-cluster medium) that surrounds the black hole, creating ripples detectable in X-ray data.

​Astronomers first detected these sound waves with the Chandra X-ray Observatory in 2003, identifying extremely low-frequency acoustic waves propagating through the cluster’s gas. The lowest note is a B-flat, an astonishing 57 octaves below middle C, with each wave having a frequency spanning millions of years, far beyond the threshold of human hearing.
 
Recent advances allowed NASA to extract these original sound waves and transposed them up by 57 to 58 octaves, making them audible for the first time. The process of sonification utilised translates astronomical phenomena into audible sound. The resulting audio is described as haunting and eerie, reflecting a unique, otherworldly wail from the depths of the cosmos. 
 
This sonification project offers a new dimension for studying black holes, star formation, and cluster dynamics. The propagation and reverberation of sound waves through the hot gas play a critical role in heating the intra-cluster medium, affecting how galaxies form and evolve over cosmic timescales. These results not only provide insight into the physics of black holes and their environments but also help debunk the myth that there is no sound in space. In galaxy clusters, dense gas allows for sound wave transmission, unlike the vacuum between stars and galaxies.
 
The audio clip released by NASA presents these sounds as a radar-like scan, sweeping through different directions around the black hole, making it possible to hear the cosmic howl transformed for human ears. Listen to the sound waves here:
https://x.com/NASAExoplanets/status/1561442514078314496?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1561442514078314496%7Ctwgr%5E5742fa9c536eddae27d14feea06af94c7fdff8f2%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencealert.com%2Flisten-to-the-creepy-sounds-from-a-black-hole-captured-by-nasa
 
References
Kwon, S. (2022, September 7). Yale Astronomers Weigh in on Newly Captured Sound Emitted by Black Hole. Yale News.
 
Mohon, L. (2022, May 4). New NASA Black Hole Sonifications with a Remix.NASA.
 
Starr, M. (2025, October 24). Listen to the Creepy Sounds from a Black Hole, Captured by NASA. Science Alert.

Recent reports claiming that the Earth now has "two moons" stem from the discovery of a small asteroid known as 2025 PN7, which scientists have identified as a quasi-moon, not a true second moon. 2025 PN7 is a small asteroid, about 18 to 36 meters in diameter, first detected by the University of Hawaii’s Pan-STARRS observatory in August 2025. NASA did not confirm that the asteroid is a 2nd moon; it only confirmed that 2025 PN7 moves in a co-orbital relationship with Earth; meaning it travels around the Sun on nearly the same path as our planet, giving the illusion from our perspective that it is circling Earth.
 
Unlike the Moon, which is gravitationally bound to Earth, 2025 PN7 orbits the Sun, not Earth. Its path makes it appear to follow Earth, as they travel around the Sun, a phenomenon that categorizes it as a quasi-moon rather than a true natural satellite. NASA estimates 2025 PN7 has been accompanying Earth since roughly the 1960s and will remain nearby until about 2083, after which it will drift away from Earth’s neighbourhood in space. The object stays at least 4 million kilometers away, about ten times farther than the Moon, and is too small and dim to see without powerful telescopes.
 
These temporary companions, examples include Kamoʻoalewa, 2023 FW13, and 2025 PN7, offer astronomers valuable insight into small-body dynamics and solar system evolution and may one day serve as potential sites for close-up asteroid exploration. Their low relative speed and proximity also make them ideal test targets for asteroid missions or studying early solar system materials. 2025 PN7 pose no threat to Earth. Quasi-Moons are scientifically useful because their interactions with Earth’s gravity help astronomers refine models of small-body dynamics 
 
References
Stahl, A. (2024, May 21). Earth’s Quasi-Moons, Minimoons, and Ghost Moons. The Planetary Society.
 
Wang, C. (2025, October 23). No, NASA Did Not Confirm that Earth Now Has Two Moons. Fact Crescendo.
 
(2025, October 21). Quasi-Satellite. In Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quasi-satellite