The Sound of Space

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BBC Radio 4 Extra - The Sound of Space

Dr Lucie Green takes a sonic tour of the Universe, revealing the hidden sounds of space.

4 Extra Debut. Astronomer Dr Lucie Green takes a sonic tour of the Universe, revealing the hidden sounds of Jupiter and beyond. From 2015.

The previously silent world of outer space is changing. 

In this audio tour around the Universe, Dr Lucie Green explores the sounds of space.

Some sounds have been recorded by microphones on-board interplanetary spacecraft. Others have been detected by telescopes and sped up until their frequency is tuned to our ears. The rest are sonified X-rays, space plasma or radio waves that reveal tantalising secrets about the universe that our eyes cannot see.

Everyone can recall the sound of the singing comet - a symphony created using measurements from the Rosetta mission. But many other sounds have been created from space data, from lightning on Jupiter to vibrations inside the Sun. From spinning pulsars to black holes and gamma ray bursts, outside our Solar System space becomes even stranger.

Joining Lucie Green on this sonic journey through space are:

*  Prof Tim O'Brien (Associate Director of Jodrell Bank Observatory),

*  Honor Harger (Executive Director of the ArtScience museum in Singapore) and

*  Dr Andrew Pontzen (Cosmology Research Group, University College London)

Plus archive from Dame Jocelyn Bell-Burnell.

Producer: Michelle Martin

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2015.

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