Supermassive black hole sound: Nasa’s recording of Perseus galaxy cluster explained - what is a black hole?

NASA has confirmed that noise can in fact be heard in space, and has released a chilling video to prove so.

A new video from the space agency has showed the noises emitting from a black hole in the Perseus galaxy cluster, with the noise eerily resembling distant and echoey screams.

The agency also explained how this was even possible, with many people assuming that noise cannot travel in outer space.

Here’s everything you need to know.

What did NASA say about noise in space?

A tweet shared from the @NASAExoplanets team featured to the video of the supermassive black hole’s noise.

The tweet explained: “The misconception that there is no sound in space originates because most space is a ~vacuum, providing no way for sound waves to travel.”

However, the audio file proved the opposite of this, with the team stating that as galaxy clusters are so packed with gas that audio can actually be heard from black holes.

NASA mixed the audio with other data to make the sound audible to human ears.

The resulting noises are quite literally like something from a sci-fi film. In fact the video has got the internet talking, with some comparing the noises to survival video game Silent Hill, and even comparing the noises to the music of Icelandic musician Bjork.

What is a supermassive black hole?

According to NASA, a black hole is an area in space which the force of gravity is so strong that even light is pulled in and cannot escape.

The gravity in a black hole is particularly strong because matter has been pulled into a small space. For example, this may happen when a star is dying.

A supermasive black hole is a black hole which is of considerable size - specifically containing between one hundred thousand and 10 billion times more mass than the Sun.

Scientists are still investigating how supermassive blackholes form, with some theories that they may be created from several black holes merging together.

Other theories include the collapse of large gas clouds, the collapse of a stellar cluster or they could be spawn from large clusters of dark matter.