Spooky Sounds from Across the Solar System
Soaring to the depths of our universe, gallant spacecraft roam the cosmos, snapping images of celestial wonders. Some spacecraft have instruments capable of capturing radio emissions. When scientists convert these to sound waves, the results are eerie to hear.
In time for Halloween, weâve put together a compilation of elusive âsoundsâ of howling planets and whistling helium that is sure to make your skin crawl.
Listen to a few here and visit our Soundcloud for more spooky sounds.Â
This eerie audio represents data collected by our Cassini spacecraft, as it crossed through the gap between Saturn and its rings on April 26, 2017, during the first dive of the missionâs Grand Finale. The instrument is able to record ring particles striking the spacecraft in its data. In the data from this dive, there is virtually no detectable peak in pops and cracks that represent ring particles striking the spacecraft. The lack of discernible pops and cracks indicates the region is largely free of small particles.Â
Voyager Tsunami Waves in Interstellar SpaceÂ
Listen to this howling audio from our Voyager 1 spacecraft. Voyager 1 has experienced three âtsunami wavesâ in interstellar space. This kind of wave occurs as a result of a coronal mass ejection erupting from the Sun. The most recent tsunami wave that Voyager experienced began in February 2014, and may still be going. Listen to how these waves cause surrounding ionized matter to ring like a bell.
Voyager Sounds of Interstellar Space
Our Voyager 1 spacecraft captured these high-pitched, spooky sounds of interstellar space from October to November 2012 and April to May 2013.
The soundtrack reproduces the amplitude and frequency of the plasma waves as âheardâ by Voyager 1. The waves detected by the instrument antennas can be simply amplified and played through a speaker. These frequencies are within the range heard by human ears.
When scientists extrapolated this line even further back in time (not shown), they deduced that Voyager 1 first encountered interstellar plasma in August 2012.
Ominous sounds of plasma! Our Juno spacecraft has observed plasma wave signals from Jupiterâs ionosphere. The results in this video show an increasing plasma density as Juno descended into Jupiterâs ionosphere during its close pass by Jupiter on February 2, 2017. Â
Junoâs Waves instrument recorded this supernatural sounding encounter with the bow shock over the course of about two hours on June 24, 2016. âBow shockâ is where the supersonic solar wind is heated and slowed by Jupiterâs magnetosphere. It is analogous to a sonic boom on Earth. The next day, June 25, 2016, the Waves instrument witnessed the crossing of the magnetopause. âTrapped continuum radiationâ refers to waves trapped in a low-density cavity in Jupiterâs magnetosphere.
Visit the NASA Soundcloud for more spooky space sounds:Â https://soundcloud.com/nasa/sets/spookyspacesounds
Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com.
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