# NASA Recorded the Sound of a Black Hole (and Space Isn't Silent)

- Page: https://pxreality.com/videos/nasa-recorded-the-sound-of-a
- Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csUpIW4sTSc
- Published: 2026-10-17
- Channel: PXReality (https://www.youtube.com/@PXReality)

## Summary

3 a.m. A message arrives from Commander Robin, six billion kilometers away in the Kuiper Belt: "Space isn't silent." But every science book says it is. So Dr. PX goes looking, and finds REAL recordings: wind on Mars, Earth's "chorus" that sounds like birds, Voyager 1's ringing plasma between the stars, and a black hole singing 57 octaves too low to hear.

## Chapters

- 0:00 A message at 3 a.m. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csUpIW4sTSc&t=0s)
- 0:40 Who's right? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csUpIW4sTSc&t=40s)
- 1:06 What is sound? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csUpIW4sTSc&t=66s)
- 1:49 Real wind on Mars (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csUpIW4sTSc&t=109s)
- 2:19 Signal lost (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csUpIW4sTSc&t=139s)
- 2:57 Plasma (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csUpIW4sTSc&t=177s)
- 3:32 Earth's chorus (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csUpIW4sTSc&t=212s)
- 4:04 Voyager's hum (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csUpIW4sTSc&t=244s)
- 4:49 The sound of a black hole (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csUpIW4sTSc&t=289s)
- 5:37 The answer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csUpIW4sTSc&t=337s)
- 6:14 Your turn (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csUpIW4sTSc&t=374s)

## Sources

- Sound needs a medium; space is a near-perfect vacuum: NASA Glenn Research Center; NASA "10 Things: Going Interstellar"
- Solar wind near Earth, 3 to 10 particles per cm³: NASA
- First sounds recorded on Mars, Perseverance rover microphones (2021): NASA/JPL-Caltech; Maurice et al., Nature 605 (2022)
- Earth's chorus, recorded by NASA's Van Allen Probes (EMFISIS, 2012): NASA; University of Iowa
- Voyager 1 hears the interstellar plasma ring (2012 and 2013): NASA/JPL-Caltech, PIA17045; Gurnett et al., Science (2013)
- A faint, steady hum in Voyager 1's data: Ocker et al., Nature Astronomy (2021)
- Perseus black hole: sound waves in hot gas, a B flat 57 octaves below middle C (2003); sonification raised 57 and 58 octaves (2022): NASA Chandra X-ray Center
- Kuiper Belt distance and six-hour signal delay: NASA (New Horizons at Arrokoth, about 6.6 billion km)

## Credits

Real recordings: Mars wind NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL/CNES/CNRS/ISAE-Supaero; Earth's chorus NASA, EMFISIS team, Univ. of Iowa; Voyager 1 plasma NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Iowa; Perseus sonification NASA/CXC/SAO/K.Arcand, SYSTEM Sounds (M. Russo, A. Santaguida). Images: NASA/JPL-Caltech (Perseverance, Mars), NASA/Goddard (radiation belts), NASA/CXC/GSFC (Perseus cluster). Music: YouTube Audio Library. Sound effects: original. Narration: AI-generated voice. Commander Robin: played by Robin.
