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Stellar Seismologists Record "Music" From Stars
niktemadur writes "The BBC reports that a French team of stellar seismologists, using the COROT Space Telescope, have converted stellar oscillations into sound patterns, a relatively new technique that, according to Professor Eric Michel of the Paris Observatory, is already giving researchers new insight into the inner workings of stars. The subtly pulsating, haunting sounds are very similar to artist Aphex Twin's minimalistic nineties album 'Selected Ambient Works, Vol. 2,' only stripping away what little melody it had and leaving just the beat. These and many more recordings from space can be accessed at the Jodrell Bank Center for Astrophysics website, also known as the Jodcast."
Agreed. A "beat" doesn't necessarily imply periodic rhythm. I'm surprised, however, that the story here mentions on Aphex Twin and not an even more topical piece of music. In the 1980s, the French spectralist composer Gerard Grisey wrote a major concert work called Le Noir de l'etoile for six percussionist. The material is partly based on sounds from pulsars, and in fact during the concert a radio telescope is to be used to directly pipe in the sound of a specific pulsar. Grisey's work at this time was increasingly fascinated by musical time, and the contrast between the clockwork of the pulsar and more organic aperiodic rhythms is a major concern of the piece.