MATRIXSYNTH: The Sounds of Stars


Monday, August 14, 2006

The Sounds of Stars

Make sure to check out badscience.net for more, including Don Kutz, the man recording space.

Via The Mail article:
"The astrophysicist said: 'The stars have sounds in them. In a sense they ring like giant bells or musical instruments. One of them sounds like African drumming and has been used in nightclubs in Belgium for youngsters keen on dance music.'"

"Stars vibrate at very low frequencies which have been boosted so they can be heard by humans. Each star has a unique sound - while some resemble a beating heart, others are more like an orchestra tuning up.

The vibrations are caused by reactions in the intensely hot core, creating waves of pressure that ripple through to the surface.

Because space is empty, the sounds cannot be carried to Earth. But the vibrations constantly affect the stars' brightness, the changes in which can be measured and converted back into sound.

The 'voice' of each star typically covers a couple of octaves in the range of musical notes it produces. The sound of the Sun, which pulses every five minutes, would have to be about 12 octaves higher for the deep rumbling to be audible to humans."

Title link takes you to the full article with samples. Also if this topic intersts you, check out this post on the rings of Saturn.

3 comments:

  1. pattysplanet (pattysplanet.de) did a track (ode to saturn) with saturn sounds in it..

    maybe interesting, how it could sound..

    ReplyDelete
  2. i have a 5 cd set called Symphonies of the planets put out on laserlight records. the cds have audio feedback form the nasa voager programs and needless to say, they are strange and beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I remember those NASA discs... I have been making music (dance and otherwise) with starsounds for a few years also. It is a beautiful concept to me...

    ReplyDelete

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