Howling planets, whistling plasma waves, and pelting space rocks: the sounds of space are spooky - and NASA compiled a list of them to make your Halloween party a little bit more nerdy.
The sounds are truly eerie: Jupiter’s magnetosphere, the powerful magnetic field that extends millions of miles around the planet, sounds like a lightsaber from Star Wars, and distantly resembles the noise of frozen lakes here on Earth. Saturn’s radio emissions sound like a robot crying for help in the midst of a wind storm. And the atmosphere of Saturn's moon Titan resembles the static noise coming off a TV, with a rhythmic sound going on and off in the background.
Space is a vacuum - so it generally doesn’t carry sound waves like air does here on Earth (though some sounds do exist in outer space, we just can’t hear them). But the various probes zooming through our cosmos are capable of capturing radio emissions from space objects. These radio emissions are then converted into sound waves, and the result is the spooky sounds NASA put together into a playlist.
Juno Captures the “Roar” of Jupiter: NASA's Juno spacecraft has crossed the boundary of Jupiter's immense magnetic field. Juno's Waves instrument recorded the encounter with the bow shock over the course of about two hours on June 24th, 2016.
Plasma Waves: Plasma waves, like the roaring ocean surf, create a rhythmic cacophony that - with the EMFISIS instrument aboard NASA’s Van Allen Probes - we can hear across space.
Sounds of a Comet Encounter: During its February 14th, 2011, flyby of comet Tempel 1, an instrument on the protective shield on NASA's Stardust spacecraft was pelted by dust particles and small rocks, as can be heard in this audio track.
The sounds are truly eerie: Jupiter’s magnetosphere, the powerful magnetic field that extends millions of miles around the planet, sounds like a lightsaber from Star Wars, and distantly resembles the noise of frozen lakes here on Earth. Saturn’s radio emissions sound like a robot crying for help in the midst of a wind storm. And the atmosphere of Saturn's moon Titan resembles the static noise coming off a TV, with a rhythmic sound going on and off in the background.
Space is a vacuum - so it generally doesn’t carry sound waves like air does here on Earth (though some sounds do exist in outer space, we just can’t hear them). But the various probes zooming through our cosmos are capable of capturing radio emissions from space objects. These radio emissions are then converted into sound waves, and the result is the spooky sounds NASA put together into a playlist.
Juno Captures the “Roar” of Jupiter: NASA's Juno spacecraft has crossed the boundary of Jupiter's immense magnetic field. Juno's Waves instrument recorded the encounter with the bow shock over the course of about two hours on June 24th, 2016.
Plasma Waves: Plasma waves, like the roaring ocean surf, create a rhythmic cacophony that - with the EMFISIS instrument aboard NASA’s Van Allen Probes - we can hear across space.
Sounds of a Comet Encounter: During its February 14th, 2011, flyby of comet Tempel 1, an instrument on the protective shield on NASA's Stardust spacecraft was pelted by dust particles and small rocks, as can be heard in this audio track.