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Sounds Of Space
examples

Sonification Examples

Solar Wind  

Solar Wind Sounds

The following sounds were generated at the Space Sciences Laboratory at the University of California in Berkeley using solar wind particle data from two different satellite missions, Helios 1 and 2 and the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE).

 

STEREO Sonifications

Click here

Helios Flux Data Sonifications

For this example, we used the Solar Energetic Particles (SEP) data from the Helios mission. The data are courtesy of the Helios spacecraft investigators and Don Reames at the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). The SEP data were collected in six energy bins over several years. Both the spectrograms and sounds are sorted by Carrington Rotation**

To translate this SEP data to sound, each bin at each time is assigned a musical tone. The pitch of the tone remains constant, but the amplitude varies depending on the value. Thus, certain notes within the chord are louder than others, reflecting the relative flux of the energy bins. By utilizing the data from both satellites of the Helios mission, the resulting sounds have a "stereo" effect. Click on the spectrograph* below to access sounds from several Carrington rotations. Use headphones to fully appreciate the stereo effect

Solar Wind Audio  
Click on the image to the left to open a window containg Helios audio examples.
 
 

Listen to a short segment of “Turning Point,” a symphony piece written by Roberto Morales Manzanares. Mr. Morales Manzanares created the software program for musicians for the STEREO sounds project. This program is available for free on our applications page. Make your own music using the Helios data and this software program.

incandescence_orq_ex_rv (1.23 MB, .mp3)

 
LASCO  

View a movie of a Coronal Mass Ejection taken by the LASCO instrument of the SOHO satellite. In this movie, you can both hear and see the SEP particle data arriving at the spacecraft. We used the Helios satellite data to provide the sound for the movie.

sep_sounds (1.28 MB, .mpg)

ACE Flux Data Sonifications

For this example, we used the Iron and Helium flux data from the ACE mission. The data are courtesy of the ACE spacecraft investigators. The composition data has eight energy bins and is collected over a period of about a month.

LASCO  

We use solar wind Iron and Helium fluxes at different energies collected from April 14, 1998 to May 10, 1998. On the left image is the Iron flux with time as the x-axis and energy on the y-axis. The right image shows the Helium flux with the same x- and y-coordinates. In this spectrograph image, the red color represents highest flux and blue is lowest. The red intervals thus represent major SEP "events" from either solar activity or corotating interplanetary shocks. The RGB value of each color in the graph determines the pitch played by the program. Can you hear the increase in particle flux pass by the satellite?

spectro (4.82 MB, .mpg)

 
LASCO  

We combined these sounds with a SOHO LASCO movie showing a month of the ever changing Solar Corona at the same time when the ACE satellite was measuring Iron and Helium fluxes.

ace_Fe_He_flux_LASCO_C3 (4.39 MB, .mpg)

Definitions
Back to Solar Wind Sounds

*A spectrogram is a time series of particle data where color is used to represent flux or intensity in the various energy ranges in which measurements are made.

**A Carrington Rotation is a period of 27.3 days, representing one full rotation of the Sun as seen from the Earth. Carrington Rotation numbers are arbitrarily referenced to the time the term came into use, on November 9, 1853.\


Solar Wind  

Solar Sounds

The following sounds were generated by Alexander Kosovichev at Stanford University using solar data from the Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI). The procedure he used for generating these sounds was the following:

He started with doppler velocity data, averaged over the solar disk, so that only modes of low angular degree (l = 0, 1, 2) remained. Subsequent processing removed the spacecraft motion effects, instrument tuning, and some spurious points. Then Kosovichev filtered the data at about 3 mHz to select clean sound waves (and not supergranulation and instrumental noise). Finally, he interpolated over the missing data and scaled the data (speeded it up a factor 42,000 to bring it into the audible human-hearing range (kHz)).

One Mode
l=1, n=20 (nu=2.94-3.0 mHz)

Three Modes
l=0, n=21; l=1 n=20; l=2,n=20 (nu=2.95-3.05 mHz)

All Low-Degree Modes
l=0, 1, 2, and 3


Magnetosphere  

Magnetopheric Sounds

The first space weather sounds were heard as far back as the 1880s, when signals resulting from magnetospheric activity were picked up by telephone lines. Many of the emissions fall within the ELF-VLF range of the radio spectrum, at frequencies of 0.1 - 10 kHz. These "Natural Radio" sounds have been compiled by Stephen P. McGreevy. The most recent recordings are available (in MP3 format) at spaceweathersounds.com.

Further magnetosphere sounds have been recorded by the PWI group for the POLAR spacecraft at the University of Iowa. A table of events and sound samples are available here.

Below are the magnetosphere sounds available at the PWI site:


Aurora  
Auroral Sounds

Auroral Kilometric Radiation (AKR) consists of intense radio emissions with a frequency of 50 - 500 kHz originating in the Earth's auroral regions. The amplitudes (volume) for AKR can change 60 - 80 dB in a matter of minutes. The occurrence of these events is correlated to auroral activity. A more detailed explanation of these events can be found at the University of Iowa's POLAR Plasma Wave Investigation (PWI) page.

Below is a list of auroral sounds available at the PWI site:

A small sample of the older recordings (in .wav format) by Stephen P. McGreevy at the Space Plasma Wave Group site at the University of Iowa are listed below: