The Music of Jupiter

An oldy but a goody, posted both for those who have never heard it, and those who have heard it a hundred times already. The serene and mysterious ambient music of Jupiter as captured by NASA Voyager:


These sounds are the result of “the complex interactions of charged electromagnetic particles from the solar wind, planetary magnetosphere, etc.” (Via Andy Ristaino, thank you.)

There’s something deeply comforting and astonishing about this, isn’t there? Our universe is so far from silent. A wide range of heavenly bodies are constantly emitting unique electromagnetic signals that we can pick up and process, provided we have the right instruments. The stars do sing.

Posted by Meredith Yayanos on January 31st, 2011
Filed under Ambient, Cosmos, Music, Sci-fi, Science, Technology, Uber

4 Responses to “The Music of Jupiter”

  1. Tertiary Says:
    January 31st, 2011 at 9:50 pm

    I love this stuff. It’s super neat. This recording is much more serene that one would expect of Jupiter, really. I wonder how many hours of this stuff there is, on a reel of tape somewhere in storage at JPL.

    A while back, when the Slow Beiber phenom introduced me to PaulStretch, I made a track with a sample of saturn (linked to in the ‘slew’ link). I plan to do more (regardless of my lack of musical talent, because SPACE MUSIC IS PUNK RAWK), but haven’t had time yet.

    Those who wish to hear it, can do so here:

    http://soundcloud.com/tertius/saturn-rises
    My apologies for the appalling compression. It sounds much better as a wav.

  2. Colorful_Amoeba Says:
    February 1st, 2011 at 6:49 am

    Oh. My. God.
    Thanks sooooo much for sharing!
    It’s unbelievable, amazing, fantastic, breath-taking!!!

    I’m so impresed by how our Universe is gorgeous and perfect.

  3. heatherina Says:
    February 1st, 2011 at 1:07 pm

    This makes my head feel tingly. I might try listening to this as I go to sleep, and perhaps dream of the universe. This is as serene and majestic as I would imagine the universe sounding, as opposed to the Chtulu-like grumble of the Earth recording…

  4. John Says:
    February 1st, 2011 at 7:26 pm

    Thanks for the links. I love the black hole sound. Here’s another link that Wired ran last year, the sound of red giant stars as picked up by the Kepler Space Telescope:

    http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/10/kepler-star-sounds/