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The Battalion
Sci|Tech
Page 10 • Tuesday, September 23,200
Tone deaf no longer
Volume 11 {
Scientists discover deepest sound ever in Perseus gak
Computer ar
are haumg a
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Chandra X-Ray [3-color] Chandra X-Ray [Sound Waves]
Photos courtisv of chano*a.hakva*c»
Af left is the Perseus galaxy cluster as seen through a The sound waves found in Perseus' black hole (righl)o!
Chandra X-ray before the identification of sound waves. far lower than what an average human being can feu
By Amelia Williamson
THE BATTALION
Astronomers danced to a new tune Sept. 9 when
NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory caught hold of
the deepest sound ever detected from an object in
the universe. This sound is far below the range that
humans can hear — 57 octaves below the middle C
note on a piano, according to NASA. As Dr. Roland
Allen of the Texas A&M Department of Physics
said, “It’s like nature is singing to us in a very low
voice.”
Chandra found these high-energy sound waves
rippling out from the center of the
Perseus galaxy cluster, located
250 million light years from
Earth. NASA scientists believe
the sound waves originate from a
supermassive black hole in the
center of the cluster.
Andrew Fabian of the Institute of
Astronomy in Cambridge, England,
who is the leader of the study, told
NASA “We have observed the prodi
gious amounts of light and heat cre
ated by black holes, now we have
detected the sound.”
Chandra is a space telescope that
NASA launched into orbit in 1999 to observe X-rays
and produce images of areas in the universe that emit
high levels of energy. According to Dr. Christopher
Pope, also part of A&M’s Department of Physics, X-
ray observation is vital to studying high-energy
objects. Astronomers must study X-ray emissions
from orbit because the Earth’s atmosphere absorbs
the rays.
“(Chandra) is worth the millions of dollars of
funding because it shows us things that we cannot
see from here on Earth,” Allen said. “It benefits
everyone in the world.”
Chandra is one of four observatories that orbit
the Earth and is accompanied by the Hubble Space
Telescope, which observes visible light, the
Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, which detects
gamma rays and the Space Infrared Telescope
Facility, which explores using infrared light.
According to the Chandra X-ray Observatory
Web site, scientists came across the sound waves
while viewing Chandra’s processed images of the
Perseus cluster that show differences in brightness.
In previous Chandra images, astronomers found two
cavities stemming from the black hole that give off
large amounts of radio waves. Black holes emit
large jets of material that push through the gassfii
the galaxy cluster, creating these cavities thatcai
tain high-energy particles and magnetic fields.Hi
cavities move the surrounding gasses in the cte
causing high-energy sound waves to ripple throus
the universe.
For many years, scientists have struggled
the issue that the hot gasses near the center of ik
Perseus cluster have not cooled dows
Astronomers theorized that in galaxy clusters tk
emit X-rays, the hot gasses should cool downow
time, condense and give birth to an immense■
ber of stars. When scientists observed cluster
however, they found that this w
not the case. Astronomers weit
puzzled that after billions of)®,
the gasses are still hot. NASAindi-
cated that the high-energy sod
waves beaming from the centeroi
the cluster could be the answer#!
this long-lived question.
As the sound waves tno
through the gasses in the gala'
cluster, the energy spreads out,
absorbed and transferred into ires
The heat produced by the spun
waves could be the agent that i
heating the gasses in the cluster an
preventing its cooling.
The discovery of these sound waves is extreme!)
significant because by studying the high energy tk
the waves let off, scientists could learn a great des
about galaxy clusters.
“This discovery gives us more information abof
the evolutionary development of galaxy clusters
Not much was previously known about how the;
form and expand,” said Dr. George Kattawar oftis
A&M Department of Physics.
In the past, astronomy professors have had told
disappointed students that the process of evoluti#
for galaxy clusters was unknown. Soon, howevtt
with Chandra’s newly discovered information,pn#
fessors will finally be able to explain how gala,?
clusters, the largest groups of objects in the li
verse, develop.
The A&M Department of Physics faculty keeps!
close eye on new discoveries and is working on if
grating more astronomy into the curriculum
“Curiosity drives us,” Dr. Kattawar said. “It#
remarkable to contemplate all the things going omi
the universe - it’s mind-blowing.”
The Department of Physics posts information o:
astronomy classes and new astronomical discover
at http://astronomy.tamu.edu.
It is remarkable
to contemplate all
the things going on
in the universe —
it’s mind-blowing.
— Dr. George Kattawar
Department of Physics
Gatei
atSti
By Sarah
THE BAT
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