The music of the spheres

The music of the spheres
Extrait du Observatoire de Paris centre de recherche et enseignement en astronomie et
astrophysique relevant du Ministère de l'Enseignement supérieur et de la Recherche.
https://www.obspm.fr/the-music-of-the-spheres.html
The music of the spheres
Date de mise en ligne : mardi 2 décembre 2014
Description :
The light of the stars translated into sounds
Observatoire de Paris centre de recherche et enseignement en astronomie et
astrophysique relevant du Ministère de l'Enseignement supérieur et de la
Recherche.
Copyright © Observatoire de Paris centre de recherche et enseignement en astronomie et astrophysique relevant du Ministère de l'Enseignement
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The music of the spheres
The light of the stars translated into sounds
The music of the spheres
Celestial bodies emit no sound, which in any case would not be able to cross the vacuum of space. They send us
visible and invisible light (radio waves, X-rays, etc.). Light is made up of electric and magnetic waves which can cross
the vacuum of space ; they are defined by their frequency (the number of oscillations per second) and their intensity.
High frequencies correspond, for example, to X-rays or to ultra-violet rays, medium frequencies to visible light, and
the low frequencies to infra-red and radio waves.
Astronomers analyze this light, and synthesize images in which the distribution of brightness is a function of time and
frequency. These latter are not unlike sonograms or musical scores (which also describe the distribution of acoustic
intensity as a function of time and acoustic frequency ... the trebles and basses, for example).
Here, the light emitted by the celestial bodies has been transposed to sound waves, in exact accordance with the
distribution of intensity as a function of time and frequency (in fact, the frequencies have been transposed to the
audible range while compressing the time).
These "sound pictures ", and the observations from which they are synthesized, are a source of information about the
rotation of the celestial bodies, their magnetic fields, the charged particles in their vicinity, etc.
Philippe Zarka, CNRS Research Director at the Paris Observatory
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The music of the spheres
Emissions basses fréquences de Saturne Observatoire de Paris
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