An Australian professor has put together a soundtrack made up of the sounds the Sun makes.
The Sun, in case you didn’t know, is a big ball of hydrogen and helium, violently exploding at all times with billions of years of energy left in it. So, apart from solar energy, what else could we use the Sun for?
Frickin’ sweet beats, obviously.
At least, that’s what Professor Kim Cunio from the Australian National University thinks.
“This album conveys the sheer scale of our sun and how completely it permeates our lives,” Cunio said.
I’ve listened to a few of the sounds so far and it is a weird experience. It’s as if 100 Gecs made the music for a David Attenborough documentary.
But it’s not just based on the Sun, it’s made of sounds detected from the star.
The sounds were captured by NASA spacecraft and the BAS Halley VI Research Station in Antarctica.
“The data is usually used to investigate space weather storms, solar wind turbulence and the interior of the sun, all of which are usually inaudible to the human ear,” Doctor Nigel Meredith added. He’s from the British Antarctic Survey.
“In this album we seek our inspiration from the sun. It includes some unusual and fascinating ‘sounds’ of the sun as recorded on the Parker Solar Probe, Cassini and SOHO spacecraft,” Dr Meredith said.
Non-Sun sounds that appear on the album include those created by a theremin, a hurdy-gurdy, an electric keyboard and Cunio’s own voice chanted into a well.
So, you know, if you’ve ever wondered what the Sun would sound like if it were a Bandcamp artist, you now know.
The Sun soundtrack, Sunconscious, is available now on Bandcamp. It’s a free download.
You can also read about the project on the ANU website.