International Year of Astronomy: Public Lecture Series

Black Holes Sing

Janna Levin

Barnard College, Columbia University

Black holes may be heard but not seen. As the death state of a star, black holes emit no light. They are dark against the dark sky. But like mallets on a drum, black holes can ring out a song on space itself. Monumental Earth and space-based missions aim to record the songs from space for the first time thereby turning up the volume on the soundtrack to the Universe.