If you want kids to care about it these days, it has to be on social media, so NASA has released a Twitter clip of sounds created by a distant galaxy cluster, presumably to reignite youth’s interest in space. I remember when I was a kid, outer space was all I could ever think about. Well, space, and how to sleep at night without getting eaten by the monsters hiding in my room. Little did I know at the time, those were the good ol’ days.

According to NASA Exoplanets (the NASA branch responsible for seeking planets and life outside our own solar system): “The misconception that there is no sound in space originates because most space is a ~vacuum, providing no way for sound waves to travel. A galaxy cluster has so much gas that we’ve picked up actual sound. Here it’s amplified, and mixed with other data, to hear a black hole!”

The misconception that there is no sound in space originates because most space is a ~vacuum, providing no way for sound waves to travel. A galaxy cluster has so much gas that we've picked up actual sound. Here it's amplified, and mixed with other data, to hear a black hole! pic.twitter.com/RobcZs7F9e

— NASA Exoplanets (@NASAExoplanets) August 21, 2022

So what does it sound like? Kind of like a ghost party, with lots of moaning. And not sensual moaning either, ghastly moaning like you just bought a haunted house and are sleeping there for the first time. Don’t worry, though, you get used to it. Or at least I get so tired I pass out anyway.

[via TechEBlog]