Space Sounds - New Episode of It’s Okay To Be Smart!!
There is no sound in space.
In the near-vacuum of space, there is nothing to transmit the physical waves that we need to perceive sound. But that doesn’t mean we can’t MAKE sound from space.
This week, I channeled some inner Sagan, got a bit artsy, and I’m happy to feature several brilliant folks using scientific data to create “space sonification” projects. From the longest palindrome ever created to a chorus made from Earth’s magnetic field, these pieces truly lie at the intersection of art and science. More than just art, they allow us to perceive patterns in complex data in a completely new way. Some of them are actually used as part of space research projects!
Perhaps it answers the question: If the universe had a voice, what song would it sing?
For those of you who follow the blog in addition to the YouTube channel, you’ll get some special treats this week when I feature even more space sonification examples that we couldn’t fit into this episode!
FULL Versions of the pieces featured in this week’s video:
Robert Alexander - Transit of Venus
Semiconductor Films - “20 Hz”
Van Allen Belt chorus
Daniel Starr-Tambor - “Mandala” (this piece is the longest palndrome ever created, at 62 viginitillion notes!!)
We are so deaf and blind in the cosmic scale of things, everyone needs to hear these things because they are just awesome and sometimes kind of spooky sounding.
