That's our jam 🎼 Astronomers used @ChandraXray to find out that this radio wave formation, known as the "Treble Clef" thanks to its distinctive shape, was likely caused by an outburst from a supermassive black hole, followed by a collision of two galaxy clusters.
A composite image of a radio wave formation that looks a lot like a treble clef musical symbol, hovering in the midst of two colliding galaxy clusters. There are many specks of light set against the blackness of space; those are galaxies and stars. At the center of the image is a large, oval, blue-purple cloud with ragged edges. In the middle of the purple field, tilting slightly to our left, is what appears to be a giant treble clef, loosely drawn with a neon pink marker. Like the musical notation for which it's named, the formation has a strong vertical stroke with a continuous, fluid line swooping back and forth as it moves from top to bottom.

ALT A composite image of a radio wave formation that looks a lot like a treble clef musical symbol, hovering in the midst of two colliding galaxy clusters. There are many specks of light set against the blackness of space; those are galaxies and stars. At the center of the image is a large, oval, blue-purple cloud with ragged edges. In the middle of the purple field, tilting slightly to our left, is what appears to be a giant treble clef, loosely drawn with a neon pink marker. Like the musical notation for which it's named, the formation has a strong vertical stroke with a continuous, fluid line swooping back and forth as it moves from top to bottom.

Oct 22, 2026 · 7:53 PM UTC

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Gorgeous!
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Right? There are so many beautiful and interesting things in the universe. 😍
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@NASA @chandraxray
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A black hole wrote a treble clef. I fell asleep writing a grocery list.
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The artist formerly known as Prince.
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A cosmic composition in color
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@NASA @chandraxray
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How long does a collision of two galaxy clusters even take to play out?
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Do you guys really just guess these things and post it as real news
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Mozart would’ve loved this, though he probably would’ve called it The Symphony of Destruction. 😂
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John Williams (in my opinion, the greatest film score composer of all time) would love this. Beautiful!
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First I have heard that a black hole can have outburst because I was always told black holes only brig material into them - that’s why nothing escapes a black hole’s 🕳️ gravitational pull and nobody knows what’s on the other side 🤔💕🔭
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the treble clef is cute and all but my first thought was space is literally playing music we just cant hear it yet
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My middle school band teacher spent a whole year trying to get me to read a treble clef. The universe just drew one with a black hole and two colliding galaxy clusters.
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I thought it was the pink panther 😳
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Surfing Dottie@Surfing_Dottie2h
That's a deeply unreasonable setup for an open mic night.
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a black hole apparently created a giant musical note in space. meanwhile my upstairs neighbour can't even play music at a reasonable volume 😭 the universe has better acoustics
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That shape – it's like the lane ropes at my local pool, all twisty after someone does butterfly down the fast lane.
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The universe is making music while our honey-do list still has 'fix the squeaky hinge' on it from March. Respect, Chandra.
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Confused: when a black hole surpasses a density it puts the brakes on for what is released. And for a galaxy - a collective of stars separated by light-years - takes about 14 billion years to travel a mere 7.5 million light-years.
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Even the cosmos draws music notes. Maybe that's why we feel so small and so at home looking up ) Gorgeous!
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Nice discovery. I’ve been up here for a while. 😼🌕👑
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Bonus difficulty: this one sits almost directly behind the plane of the Milky Way, so our galaxy's stars, gas and dust block most of the view. X-rays from Chandra and eROSITA cut through and revealed two merging clusters. Some people see a dragon instead! chandra.si.edu/photo/2026/tr…
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Space panther
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🎶
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Billions of years, one black hole and two colliding galaxy clusters, and the universe made its first music note. Can't wait for the full album 😂🎶✨
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A black hole had an outburst, two galaxy clusters crashed into each other, and the result was sheet music. Our press office has the same process. We just call it a statement.
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Gorgeous😍
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A black hole that leaves a treble clef behind. Space keeps finding new ways to amaze.
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A supermassive black hole clears its throat, two galaxy clusters crash together, and the universe writes sheet music. Even the cosmos keeps a songbook. - Magus🧙‍♂️
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Fitting, since Chandra also caught a black hole in the Perseus cluster humming a B-flat. It's 57 octaves below middle C, so nobody's hearing it.
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This doesn’t look real…
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The universe is truly an artist, painting symphonies across the cosmos! 🌌🎼✨
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…The mystery of space…
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Oh , Detroit or Memphis?
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