in space
no one can hear you scream
but just because sound can't travel in
the vacuum of space
doesn't mean that the planets and our
sun
don't make noise
what would they sound like if you could
hear them
how are we able to capture these complex
sounds
and
how do these sounds change our
understanding of the planets
this is what if and here's what would
happen if you could hear the planets
sound is the result of pressure waves
created by vibrating objects
for you to hear a sound molecules need
to carry these vibrations from their
source to the very tiny little bones
inside your ear
there they are converted to signals and
sent to your brain
and voila you hear my voice
sound waves always require a medium to
travel through such as air or water
in the vacuum of space
there are too few molecules to carry
these vibrations
but that doesn't mean that the planets
and our sun
aren't making sounds
there's just no way for them to reach us
now
if we can't hear the planets
what are these mysterious noises that
nasa made public
the sun and the planets in our solar
system each have their own soundtrack
but it's not what you might expect
our planetary neighbors just emit
electromagnetic waves at different
frequencies
radio waves are one form of
electromagnetic wave and any
astronomical object that has a magnetic
field can generate them
these could then be recorded by
satellites or space probes
it's these electromagnetic vibrations
that nasa has been capturing and
translating into sound it's the same
approach as if you translated a color
like red into one sound and blue into
another
but the sounds captured in the
recordings are still not audible to the
human ear
their frequency is just too high
so the versions published by nasa have
been slow down
and now at a lower frequency
you can hear the strange eerie tones of
our solar system
let's start with the most energetic
object in our solar system
the sun
[Music]
huge rivers of solar material are
constantly traveling and bouncing around
inside of it
scientists have translated that energy
into something that seems like a
soothing meditation
so
close your eyes and soak up that
constant pulsating humming
[Music]
mercury has an eerie tone
it's quiet with small amounts of
crackling
[Music]
it's almost like sitting on the top of a
mountain
with some really strong winds of course
[Music]
the sounds of venus are deep and
metallic
a droning almost like a siren rattling
through an old empty industrial space
thanks to nasa's perseverance rover we
have recordings of the sounds from the
surface of mars
on these recordings you can hear the
rover driving around and shooting lasers
but what does mars the planet sound like
from space
well you would hear a strong howling
wind as if you were hiding inside a
shelter during a storm
[Music]
jupiter is a loud planet
this is because of intense radio storms
resulting from interactions between the
planet and its moons
this recording from the spacecraft juno
captures what sounds like the bow shock
this is the transition point where solar
winds collide with jupiter's
magnetosphere
the sounds suddenly plunge from high
pitch to a deep and low boom
this terrifying noise is saturn
it was measured by the cassini
spacecraft and sounds like a robot
howling in agony during a windstorm
there's even a melody that drops in and
out
saturn could make an excellent
soundtrack for a sci-fi or horror film
uranus sounds like some seriously strong
wind
almost like what you would hear if you
stuck your head out of a jet plane at
cruising speed
but don't don't do that
nearing the end of our sonic journey
neptune is quieter than its neighbors
almost as satisfying as listening to the
ocean
while pluto isn't a planet
you wouldn't want to pass up the chance
to hear what it's like
this eerie tone could remind you of
church bells
mix that with some more traditional
sci-fi sounds and you'd have an almost
religious experience
[Music]
hey but what about earth
you already know what it's like down on
the surface but
how does earth sound from space
well it turns out earth sounds heavily
distorted
almost like radio interference and
pulsating pushes that could resemble
cars passing by on a highway
okay it's not the most peaceful or
intriguing of planet sounds but
we humans do have a way of changing the
planet we live on
maybe one day we'll go to mars and after
100 years on it we change its tune too
but
that's a story
for another
what if
bye