Environmental News Network - Sounds of the Sun

Details: By NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center; 25.Jul

Data from ESA (European Space Agency) and NASA’s Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) has captured the dynamic movement of the Sun’s atmosphere for over 20 years. Today, we can hear the Sun’s movement — all of its waves, loops and eruptions — with our own ears.

Julie Swatson

Data from ESA (European Space Agency) and NASA’s Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) has captured the dynamic movement of the Sun’s atmosphere for over 20 years. Today, we can hear the Sun’s movement — all of its waves, loops and eruptions — with our own ears.

This sound helps scientists study what can’t be observed with the naked eye.

“Waves are traveling and bouncing around inside the Sun, and if your eyes were sensitive enough they could actually see this,” said Alex Young, associate director for science in the Heliophysics Science Division at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Data from SOHO, sonified by the Stanford Experimental Physics Lab, captures the Sun’s natural vibrations and provides scientists with a concrete representation of its dynamic movements.

Image: An illustration of a sunspot inspired by imagery from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), with a stylized sound wave superimposed. View animation: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a013000/a013011/sunspot.gif (Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center)

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Sounds of the Sun