Saturday, January 04, 2020

And whisper'd in the sounds of silence.....

Apparently the bhakths are going around saying the sun sounds Om. And in retaliation the non-bhakths have taken to saying how can there be sounds in space. 

There ARE sounds in space. We cannot hear them as there is no medium, such as, air or water for the vibrations to travel. So, the famous, "In space, no one can hear you scream." tagline of the movie Alien is true to that extent. 

However, there are other ways for us to hear them. All of space is not vacuum. There is interstellar gas, there is galactic dust. The sound transmitted by these are of such low frequency that we cannot hear them. 

Electromagnetic waves, such as Radio waves and Microwaves are aplenty in space. Electromagnetic waves can travel through space. By converting these waves into sound waves, you can hear the space sounds. Scientists employ this technique as one way of analyzing the data that they receive from space. 

Using this and a variety of other techniques there are plenty of space sounds that are available for us to hear. Scientists have been successful in even simulating the sound of the Big Bang!

   

NASA has released a compilation of space sounds that can be the background for any space themed video games or even for a Halloween party!

   

We even know how it sounds, when two black holes collide. Look out for that distinct ‘Wooop’ in this video.

    

 So, what about Sun, then? Of course we do have sounds from Sun. Here is a compilation of those.

   

Does that sound like Om? No. It does not. 

But next time someone says there is no sound in space, tell them there is. You just should listen. 

But, hey, that is exactly what my wife tells me. I should listen!

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