If you want to really scare yourself this Halloween, put aside the horror movies and games for a few minutes and listen to something even creepier. The European Space Agency has released an audio documentary of what planet . While it protects us from cosmic radiation and charged particles from the solar wind, it turns out that the magnetic field produces a terrifying hum.
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Data collected by ESA's three Swarm satellites was converted into sound (listen to it here ), representing both the magnetic field and a solar storm, by scientists at the Technical University of Denmark .
The sound is so light and airy that it's reminiscent of wooden melodies, striking against each other as the ground moves during an earthquake. It also sounds like a glacier shifting and cracking. However, anyone who hears the five-minute clip may have a different opinion about what it sounds like.
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The team used data from satellites , as well as other sources, to create an audio representation of the core of the field. “The project was a great way to combine art and science,” said Klaus Nielsen, a musician and project supporter from the university. The sound of Earth’s magnetic field is accompanied by a representation of the 2011 geomagnetic storm, which was caused by a solar flare. It certainly sounds pretty scary.
If you're in Copenhagen this week, stop by Solbjerg to hear the low hum of the magnetic field. At this point, more than 30 loudspeakers have been placed, pointing towards the ground. The sound will be played on repeat three times a day until October 30. According to Nielsen, we've set it up so that each loudspeaker represents a different location on Earth and shows how our magnetic field has fluctuated over the past 100,000 years.
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Researchers have taken data from silent forces and turned it into sound before. Last year, NASA turned the magnetic field activity around Jupiter 's moon Ganymede into an audio file. We also recently heard a terrifying depiction of what a black hole sounds like.
