This article is taken from the journal Les Indispensables de Sciences et Avenir n°209 dated April/June 2022.

Formidable as it is, the celestial mechanics make no sound. The spectacle of comets and their icy tails, or quasars and their mighty luminous jets, remains silent.

complete silence

A sound wave is a mechanical wave that travels like a wave, in order of compression and expansion of the medium through which it travels, the faster it becomes denser. In interstellar space, where the density of matter is only 0.127 particles/cm. is³ About 1020 particles/cm. against³ There is complete silence on the earth. But NASA has converted electromagnetic waves originating around stars into sound waves. Surprise with going, sometimes with beautiful tracks, disturbing at others.

Jupiter’s Strong Hiss

The Cassini probe thus revealed the song of Saturn, caused by an exchange of plasma waves between the planet and its moon Enceladus. Recently, the Juno probe recorded Jupiter entering its magnetic shield, revealing a shrill whistle. Meanwhile, Earth appears to give a joyful concert of sounds arising from the chorus effect, which is the product of electromagnetic waves emitted by solar particles into Earth’s magnetic field. And now the universe is full of sounds!

by Francois Folietta