Twenty Thousand Hertz Solar Symphony: Listening to the Sun’s hidden “music”
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Feb 19, 2025 Padi Boyd, an astrophysicist and host of NASA’s Curious Universe, joins Robert Alexander, a data sonification expert, and Mike Hartinger, a heliophysics research scientist. They unravel how solar electromagnetic waves are transformed into sound, revealing the Sun's 'music.' The trio discusses solar flares and coronal mass ejections, emphasizing their effects on Earth. They also explore public participation in solar research through sonification and how these auditory experiences enhance our understanding of the cosmos.
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Sonification vs. Sound
- Data sonification converts data, not sound itself, into audible forms.
- Radio waves, like those from Saturn's auroras, are energy, not sound vibrations.
CME Sonification
- Robert Alexander, a sonification specialist, translates solar data into sound, revealing insights about coronal mass ejections (CMEs).
- These CMEs have immense power, sometimes exceeding Earth's mass.
Early Space Sounds
- Early space scientists used sound to study space, even before rockets, coining terms like "whistle waves" and "dawn chorus".
- These ethereal sounds, captured by antennas and later satellites, offered a glimpse into an invisible world.