Scientists have discovered cosmic waves in space that produce sounds similar to birdsong. These waves, called “chorus waves,” are plasma waves that propagate at frequencies that are compatible with human hearing.
When these waves were converted into audio signals, they sounded like high-pitched birdsong.
The waves were detected 62,000 miles (100,000 kilometers) from Earth, in a place where their presence had never been observed before.
“This discovery raises many new questions about what physics might be going on in this region,” says Allison Janes, a space physicist at the University of Iowa.
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Experts believe that these waves may be caused by the effects of the Earth’s magnetic field, but the mechanism is not yet fully understood.
These waves have been recorded in space before, such as when they were observed by a research station in Antarctica in the 1960s. NASA’s Van Allen Probes have heard these waves from close to Earth, but this new discovery is much further away than ever before.
The fresh sounds were recorded by NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) satellites, which were launched in 2015 to study the magnetic fields of the Earth and the Sun.
The research was recently published in the journal Nature.
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Chorus waves have also been observed near other planets such as Jupiter and Saturn and can produce high-energy electrons that can disrupt satellite communications.
The waves are among the strongest and most important in space, says study author Chengmeng Liu.
The newly discovered Chorus waves are found in a part of the Earth's magnetic field that is unexpectedly widespread, raising new questions about the process by which these waves are formed.
"This is a very attractive and interesting discovery. We should look for more such events," added Allison Janes.
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