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NASA Music Out of This World

Koyaanisqatsi writes "With detection instruments on NASA's Voyagers, Galileo, Cassini and other spacecraft, University of Iowa physicist Dr. Don Gurnett recorded waves that course through outer space. Gurnett converted the plasma waves into sounds which inspired a 10-movement musical composition called "Sun Rings." Sample the sounds from Galileo, Voyager and Cassini. (Full Story)"

18 of 64 comments (clear)

  1. Great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Now we'll get sued by the Alien RIAA.

  2. In space... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    no one can hear your 10-movement musical composition

  3. That's odd by Salsaman · · Score: 5, Funny

    I played one of the wavs backwards, and I could distinctly hear the words "European Space Agency engineers are weenies".

  4. and then by chamenos · · Score: 3, Funny

    we'll finally find out where celine dion really came from, won't we? and as usual, canada would be really sorry about all the inconvenience they caused. mmhmm...

    kthxbye~!

    1. Re:and then by __aaaaxm1522 · · Score: 3, Funny

      Sorry for the inconvenience? That's just something our politicians tell yours. We've been using the US as a toxic waste dump for bad talent for *years* and you people haven't caught on yet! Celine Dion, Alanis Morrisette, William Shatner, Lorne Greene, and our latest triumph, April Lavigne!

      If it wasn't for you guys, we'd have to put up with them here. The US is the Botany Bay of the Canadian Entertainment Industry!

  5. 10-movement musical composition called "Sun Rings. by 3-State+Bit · · Score: 5, Funny

    insert something about holst.

  6. Thats not space by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    thats just

    cat /dev/urandom > /dev/dsp

  7. The best part by jukal · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...with stories from space like this, is that they could as well let you download a sample made of the scientist's toilet experience, and no-one would notice any difference. Anyway, listening to this is very fancy....because... you know... it's from space - it must be awesome!

  8. astronomical percussion music by hanwen · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Reminds me of a piece by Circus S, called Pulsar. It's a piece for 6 percussion players inspired by the sounds made by pulsar signals.

    See the circus S site.

    (Oh, actually, the composer is called
    Gérard Grisey and the piece Le Noir de l'Etoile (1989/90))

    --

    Han-Wen Nienhuys -- LilyPond

  9. some crackling and squealing patterns by techNETia · · Score: 3, Funny

    Riley listened carefully to some crackling and squealing patterns from the magnetic field the Galileo spacecraft discovered surrounding Jupiter's largest moon, Ganymede. "It sounded to me like a voice saying, 'beebopterismo,' [...]

    This guy should come over to the playground in my neighbourhood, he'll be able to record a lot of music! Beebopterismo's, hiphopterismo's, as much as he likes, and not to forget... the swing!!

  10. A CD has been out for years. by taliver · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I have a CD of the NASA voyager probe recordings. Sounds interesting at first, and then gets boring. The CD is 50 minutes long or so, and has a warning about the dangers of using heavy machinery while listening, since it puts people to sleep.

    Anyway, some sounds like whales, other parts sound like choirs from the movie 2001.

    --

    I demand a million helicopters and a DOLLAR!

  11. If.. by Frank+of+Earth · · Score: 3, Funny

    .. Lance made it into space, we could have had a quartet.

    Sample the sounds from Galileo, Voyager and Cassini and now featuring Lance Bass!

  12. It's been done by Robotech_Master · · Score: 4, Informative

    Dr. Fiorella Terenzi, radio astronomer and musician, has already done this sort of thing. (Plus, as her collaboration with Thomas Dolby ("Quantum Mechanic") proves, she also has a great singing voice. :)

    --
    Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
  13. Ham Radio by Servo · · Score: 3, Interesting

    As a kid, I used to take a ham radio (I forget what wavelengh, its been a while) and tune it to odd frequencies that produced weird rythmic pulses. It was probably just interference from nearby electronics, but it was fun to listen to.

    Those sound bites remind me of what I used to listen to as a kid. Music to my ears!

    --
    A slip of the foot you may soon recover, but a slip of the tongue you may never get over. -Benjamin Franklin
  14. Previous Story by gorgon · · Score: 4, Informative

    Slashdot posted an earlier story on this in July. Its amusing what some people can use for inspiration.

    --

    And I'd be a Libertarian, if they weren't all a bunch of tax-dodging professional whiners.
    Berke Breathed
  15. Re:Okay, I just don't get why this is interesting. by Peter+T+Ermit · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It's not interesting, at least to me. Every time NASA gets an oscillating signal of some sort, they convert it to sound waves and play it, hoping that the press mistakes it for something profound. They're seldom disappointed.

  16. This was down thirty years ago... by FFFish · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ....by Tomita. He sampled radio waves from a number of stars and used those as the base waveforms for some Moog synthesizer compositions.

    --

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    Don't like it? Respond with words, not karma.
  17. Whale songs? by Xpilot · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's actually whale songs coming from an alien probe. We've got to send Captain Kirk back in time to get 2 humpback whales to reply. Oh wait they're not extinct yet.

    --
    "Backups are for wimps. Real men upload their data to an FTP site and have everyone else mirror it." -- Linus Torvalds