NASA releases compilation of the eerie 'sounds' of space

NASA releases compilation of the eerie 'sounds' of space



NASA has released a chilling compilation of the ‘sounds’ of space, bringing to life the radio emissions captured by its spacecraft as they journey across the solar system.



The collection, shared in a new playlist on Soundcloud, includes everything from the roaring warble of lightning on Jupiter to the eerie boom of starlight.



To reveal the elusive ‘sounds,’ scientists converted the radio emissions collected across the various missions into sound waves.



The space agency has released its ‘Spooky Sounds from Across the Solar System’ playlist ahead of Halloween.



The compilation includes 22 snippets of ‘space sounds,’ revealing a stunning new perspective on the planets and other mysterious objects in our solar system.



‘Soaring to the depths of our universe, gallant spacecraft roam the cosmos, snapping images of celestial wonders,’ NASA says.



‘Some spacecraft have instruments capable of capturing radio emissions. When scientists convert these to sound waves, the results are eerie to hear.’





The list includes a clip from when the Juno spacecraft crossed the boundary of Jupiter’s magnetic field on June 24, 2016, capturing its remarkable encounter with the bow shock over two hours.



It also reveals the surf-like roar of plasma waves rippling across space, captured EMFISIS instrument aboard NASA’s Van Allen Probes.



And, the playlist contains numerous examples of Saturn’s radio emissions, gathered by its now terminated Cassini spacecraft.



In May, NASA released the eerie sound of 'the big empty' - the void between Saturn and its rings - that was recorded for the first time during the voyage of the Cassini spacecraft.



Scientists used the craft's sensors to measure the amount of dust in the area on April 26, then converted the data - measuring each dust particle that collided with the sensor - into sound.



The result is an unsettling series of crackles, whorls and snarls that sounds - quite literally - out of this world.



Each whistle and squeak is a single wave in the charged particle environment that Cassini's Radio and Plasma Wave Science (RPWS) sensor is designed to detect.



Had the area contained more dust, those noises would have been drowned out by the cracks and pops as the particles struck the sensor.



The team's analysis suggests Cassini only encountered a few particles as it crossed the gap - none larger than those in smoke, at around 1 micron across - or a millionth of a metre.



That's absolutely baffling to ring scientists, who expected the region to contain far more dust.



'It was a bit disorienting - we weren't hearing what we expected to hear,' William Kurth, leader of the RPWS team at the University of Iowa, Iowa City, said at the time.



'I've listened to our data from the first dive several times and I can probably count on my hands the number of dust particle impacts I hear.'



Cassini ended its mission on September 15, in a dramatic plunge through Saturn’s atmosphere.



Scientists say they’ll be studying the data collected by the craft for years to come