http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3096776.stm

fascinating stuff. 57 octaves below middle-C.


and if the chalker had been using Chandra, I'd a gotten it...

Here's the link without the extra http:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3096776.stm

Wow, that's cool! Thanks, eta.
Sound waves spreading out from the cavities could provide the much sought after heating mechanism.
Is that really so? That sound waves can carry heat; or maybe generate it? Can there be friction in space?

That *is* interesting. I know nothing about music, so no comments please if this is a ridiculous question...If you can't hear a B flat like that, can you feel it.

From the BBC article:

The black hole lives in the Perseus cluster of galaxies, located 250 million light-years away.

Like I keep saying, look it up in Perseus.



Bingley

With a frequency over a million, billion times deeper than the limits of human hearing, it is the deepest note ever detected from an object in the Universe.

Wow...that's deep.


And, man, that's some sustained note, huh?! I once knew a bass-baritone who was so full of hot air he could hold a note like that.

well, think about the lowest note you ever heard, maybe a truck going by, or an earthquake. this is so many times lower it's bassically(!) incomprehensible. and it's been playing for 2.5 billion years(I think they mean 9 zeros...)
you wouldn't feel this note, I would think; the waves are too big. you are inconsequential to them. awesome.
Jackie, thanks for the link fix; I hadn't noticed my error. and as for the heat, somebody smarter than me will have to explain that one.

Wow...that's deep.

more philosophy, eh, WO'N?

Cosmic Foghorn

Okay, we've got the *name of the group, now all we need is a few players. Lessee...Pfranz definitely fits into this one...bass, lead, or rhythm, Cap? And don't all you keyboardists raise your hands at once.

With a name like that we have to build on the foundation once created by Yes, The Moody Blues, Genesis, Jethro Tull...and, oh, okay...Pink Floyd...and, I guess, a little psychedelia, too, ala Uriah Heep...and go from there.

Eta, looks like you're the producer.

haha! that's great!

I have been known to sing a bit...

bassically(!) incomprehensible

you wouldn't feel this note, I would think; the waves are too big. you are inconsequential to them.
Wow--wouldn't it be just the coolest thing to ride them??

"Cosmic Foghorn"--Ok, Alex can play bass; CK can do lead; I can harmonize with you and eta, if you like. Otherwise, I'd be happy just to listen. HEY--I think a group with this name would almost have to have a didgeridoo--lapsus? johnjohn? hev? stales, you'd have time, I know you would...

Faldage and Rhubarb Commando can play a mean walking stick.

Faldage and Rhubarb Commando can play a mean walking stick.

Yeah. When it didn't like what they were doing, it beat them over the heads with itself. It was that much of a critic/maschoist. Now that's what I call mean ...

Pfranz!

Can one of the many physicists here splain me how 57 octaves traslates into a billion, er, decibels, I presume?

umm, octaves don't got necessarily anything to do with decibels. do you want to try again? I'm not sure what you're askin'...
57 octaves below just means it's real low.

Well, I was just quoting a quote. After the storm hits, I'll try to elucidate.

ah, Anna, I found this in the article:
With a frequency over a million, billion times deeper than the limits of human hearing, it is the deepest note ever detected from an object in the Universe.
is this what you're wondering about?
an octave lower would be half the frequency of the octave above, so, for example, if middle Bb is around 200cps(cycles per second) then the octave below that is 100 cps, and the one below that is 50cps, and the one below that is 25cps, and now were down to the lower limits of human hearing, and we're only down three octaves. continue the pattern and it gets down to tiny little slices(or huge ones, if you think about it that way), where it takes millions of years just to oscillate once. pretty crazy.
if that's not what you're asking, at least it helped me begin to fathom it!

fathom it--groan-nn!