Sounds from Space

 

Sounds from Pulsars, Stars and Planets

The recordings from the Earths atmosphere were kindly provided by Don Gurnett from the University of Iowa. The sounds of pulsars were kindly provided by Michael Kramer from the Jodrell Bank Observatory at the University of Manchester and by Bob Patterson K5DZE. The optical baseband scintillation files were kindly provided by Michael Fletcher OH2AUE. Jos Heymann kindly provided the recording of Uranus.

Effect

Description

Earth
Whistlers

Whistlers are produced by lightning and travel along Earth's magnetic field line from one hemisphere to the other, as shown in this illustration. In the ionized gas that exists in this region of space, the high frequencies travel faster than the low frequencies, thereby dispersing the wave from the lightning stroke into a whistling tone that decreases in frequency with increasing time, hence the term "whistler".
Provided by Don Gurnett from the University of Iowa.

Earth
Multi-hop
Whistlers

Lightning-generated whistler waves in Earth's magnetosphere travel along closed field lines from one hemisphere to the other. The duration of the whistling tone can vary from one second to as little as one tenth of a second. The duration is related to the length of the propagation path. Each time the whistler wave approaches the base of Earth's ionosphere and is reflected, it travels back on a slightly longer path.
A spacecraft traveling in the region of whistler propagation can detect the same lightning-generated whistler on successive reflections. The resulting sequence of descending tones will be separated by the travel time of the reflected wave (on the order of a second or more). The duration of each successive tone will become shorter as the path length becomes longer with each reflection.
Provided by Don Gurnett from the University of Iowa.

Earth
Proton
Whistlers

A proton whistler can only be detected in spacecraft measurements above Earth's ionosphere. The proton whistler will occur immediately after an upward-propagating whistler has been generated by a lightning discharge. It is distinct from the more common, lightning-generated whistler both in tone and spectral characteristics.
Unlike the lightning-generated whistler, the proton whistler consists of a long, slowly rising tone that begins at a low frequency and levels off in a monotone at a frequency just below the proton cyclotron frequency, a characteristic frequency of the ambient plasma. The tone will typically last several seconds.
Provided by Don Gurnett from the University of Iowa.

Earth
Auroral
Kilometric
Radiation
(AKR)

Auroral radio emissions are associated with the northern lights or aurora. Studies, primarily using auroral imagers and low-frequency radio receivers constructed at The University of Iowa, have shown the aurora is caused by energetic electrons striking the atmosphere and that these same electrons generate intense radio emissions over a frequency range about 100 to 500 kHz. University of Iowa instrumentation also revealed that similar radio emissions occur in association with aurora at Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
Provided by Don Gurnett from the University of Iowa.

Earth
Chorus

Chorus waves in Earth's magnetosphere are generated in the Van Allen radiation belts by electrons spiraling along Earth's magnetic field lines in this region. Once generated, the chorus waves interact with the moving electrons, disturbing the spiral orbit of the electrons and causing them to fall into Earth's upper atmosphere along the magnetic field lines.
Chorus waves consist of a rapid succession of intense ascending tones, rising in frequency over very short time intervals, each tone lasting typically less than one second. The frequencies of these rising tones occur in the audio frequency range and sound like a dawn chorus of chirping birds, a sound which gives these waves their name.
Provided by Don Gurnett from the University of Iowa.

Radio Astronomy Collection from Bob K5DZE

Subsequently you will find a number of recordings which are from the late 60ies / early 70ies and which I received from Bob Patterson K5DZE in 2010. In enclosed audio file the narrator describes in detail the signals, frequencies and recording processes of the various recordings.

Pulsar 4 = CP1133

This recording of the pulsar CP1133 was received on May 9th 1968 at Aricebo Radio Telescope in Puerto Rico. The receiver was tuned to 111.5 MHz with a resolution bandwidth of 300 kHz and a video bandwidth of 3 kHz. This pulsar has a period of 1.1878 seconds. Recording kindly provided by Bob K5DZE.

Pulsar 2 = CP0834

This recording of the pulsar CP0834 was received on May 9th 1968 at Aricebo Radio Telescope in Puerto Rico. The receiver was tuned to 111.5 MHz with a resolution bandwidth of 300 kHz and a video bandwidth of 3 kHz. This pulsar has a period of 1.2738 seconds. Recording kindly provided by Bob K5DZE.

Pulsar 3 = CP0950

This recording of the pulsar CP0950 was received on May 9th 1968 at Aricebo Radio Telescope in Puerto Rico. The receiver was tuned to 111.5 MHz with a resolution bandwidth of 300 kHz and a video bandwidth of 3 kHz. This pulsar has a period of 0.2508 seconds. Recording kindly provided by Bob K5DZE.

PSR B0329+54

This pulsar is a typical, normal pulsar, rotating with a period of 0.714519 seconds, i.e. close to 1.40 rotations/sec.
Provided by Michael Kramer from the University of Manchester.

This recording of the same pulsar was received at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) in Green Bank / West Virginia / USA: A dish with a diameter of 90m was used to receive the signal at 410 MHz. Recording kindly provided by Bob K5DZE.

PSR B0950+08

This recording of the variable type pulsar PSR B0950+08 in constellation Antilla was received at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) in Green Bank / West Virginia / USA: A dish with a diameter of 90m was used to receive the signal at 410 MHz. This pulsar has a period of 0.253 seconds. Recording kindly provided by Bob K5DZE.

The Vela Pulsar
PSR B0833-45

This pulsar lies near the centre of the Vela supernova remnant, which is the debris of the explosion of a massive star about 10,000 years ago. The pulsar is the collapsed core of this star, rotating with a period of 89 milliseconds or about 11 times a second.
Provided by Michael Kramer from the University of Manchester. 

This recording of the same pulsar was received at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) in Green Bank / West Virginia / USA: A dish with a diameter of 42m was used to receive the signal at 1665 MHz. Recording kindly provided by Bob K5DZE.

This is the same recording of the vela pulsar but replayed with half the speed. This allows to listen easier to the very interesting rhythm of this signal. Recording kindly provided by Bob K5DZE.

The Crab Pulsar
PSR B0531+21

This is the youngest known pulsar and lies at the centre of the Crab Nebula, the supernova remnant of its birth explosion, which was witnessed by Europeans and Chinese in the year 1054 A.D. as a day-time light in the sky. The pulsar rotates about 30 times a second.
Provided by Michael Kramer from the University of Manchester. 

PSR J0437-4715

This is a recently discovered millisecond pulsar, an old pulsar which has been spun up by the accretion of material from a binary companion star as it expands in its red giant phase. The accretion process results in orbital angular momentum of the companion star being converted to rotational angular momentum of the neutron star, which is now rotating about 174 times a second.
Provided by Michael Kramer from the University of Manchester. 

PSR B1937+21

This is the second fastest known pulsar, rotating with a period of 0.00155780644887275 seconds, or about 642 times a second. The surface of this star is moving at about 1/7 of the velocity of light and illustrates the enormous gravitational forces which prevent it flying apart due to the immense centrifugal forces. The fastest-rotating pulsar is PSR J1748-2446ad, which rotates about 10% faster at 716 times a second.
Provided by Michael Kramer from the University of Manchester. 

The Pulsars
in 47 Tucanae

The first sound file is a sequence of 16 of the known millisecond pulsars followed by them all played together.
Provided by Michael Kramer from the University of Manchester. 

The second file is a sequence of the pulsar sounds as they fade due to intensity variation caused by interstellar scintillation.
Provided by Michael Kramer from the University of Manchester. 

Jupiter

This recording of the decametric emissions of Jupiter was received on October 3rd 1967 around 18:05 UTC at the University of Colorado in Boulder/Colorado/USA. The receiver was tuned to 34 MHz with a resolution bandwidth of 3 kHz. Recording kindly provided by Bob K5DZE.

Sun

This recording of the decametric emissions of our sun was received in March 1968. You hear a type 3 emission. Recording kindly provided by Bob K5DZE.

Sirius

Optical baseband audio scintillation of the star Sirius. If you click on the icon to the right you can see the setup Michael OH2AUE used when recording this signal.

Betelgeuze

Optical baseband audio scintillation of the star Betelgeuze. If you click on the icon to the right you can see the setup Michael OH2AUE used when recording this signal.

Uranus

This recording of radiowaves from Uranus is part of the compilation "The Conquest of Space" of the Astronautical Society of Western Australia and kindly provided by Jos Heymann.

Venus

A simple sonification of the variability of the total magnetic field during BepiColombo’s second Venus flyby as measured by the Mercury Planetary Orbiter’s Magnetometer (OB sensor). The audio spans the time range 12:00 to 14:30 UTC on August 10th 2021, including the closest approach at 13:51 UTC. Credits to ESA/BepiColombo/MPO-MAG/IGEP-IWF-IC-ISAS

Mars

This recording was made on February 22nd 2021, on the fourth sol (Martian day) by the SuperCam instrument on NASA’s Perseverance rover after deployment of the rover’s mast. Some wind can be heard, especially around 20 seconds into the recording. Rover background sounds have been removed. Credits to NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL/CNES/CNRS/ISAE-Supaero.

Mercury

BepiColombo flew past Mercury for the first time on October 1st  2021, capturing data with the magnetometer onboard ESA’s Mercury Planetary Orbiter. A sonification of the magnetic field data is presented here. Credits to ESA/BepiColombo/MPO-MAG/IGEP-IWF-IC-ISAS.

If you have further recordings from space objects please let me know. I will be happy to add them to my homepage. Many thanks in advance.

Vy 55 & 73 de Matthias DD1US               


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