The European Space Agency (ESA) launched the Rosetta Mission over 10 years ago with the goal of landing on a speeding comet called 67P. On Wednesday morning, the Rosetta space craft began to orbit 67P and released its payload: The Philae robotic lander. Once settled into its new home after a stressful first few hours, Philae started performing all of its experiments.
One of those experiments was to detect and record the magnetic wavelengths in the comet. Rosetta’s Plasma Consortium (RPC) has discovered a song through the osculating magnetic field. It is being sung at 40-50 millihertz, far below what a human is able to register. So don’t expect to take a walk on a comet and hear a tune. In fact, don’t ever try to take a stroll on a comet, as we all have seen the movie ‘Armageddon’. Scientists at the ESA have taken those frequencies and amplified them into the audible range of 20 Hz to 20 KHz. Don’t get us wrong, this is not going to rival Beethoven’s 5th symphony, but it is pretty awesome to know that even nature digs music.
We at Dance Music Northwest are well aware of the connection that can exist between music and nature (need we remind anyone of the beauty of the Gorge during Paradiso?!), but what do you think of the comet’s tune? Does this surprise you at all? Let us know!
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