Listen to the Eerie Sounds of Saturn Captured by the Cassini Spacecraft
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Locas Senior Community Member
Country : AlgeriaPosts : 154Date Registered : 2014-12-18Age : 34
Subject: Listen to the Eerie Sounds of Saturn Captured by the Cassini Spacecraft 2017-01-27, 12:54 pm
Similar to the auroras (Northern and Southern lights) that we have here on Earth, Saturn is a planet with intense radio emissions.
In October of 1997, NASA launched the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft into space headed for Saturn. Seven years later in July of 2004, the unmanned spacecraft entered Saturn’s orbit, marking the first ever probe to have done so.
When Cassini was 234 million miles away from Saturn, it started to intercept radio emissions in April of 2002. The radio and plasma wave science instrument on board the craft has since recorded these radio emissions, revealing a myriad of fluctuations in both frequency and time. They also revealed that, just like Earth, Saturn features a high number of small radio sources traveling the planet’s magnetic field lines.
Thankfully, NASA has compressed these sound files for us to listen to! And they’re quite eerie. Cassini has been orbiting Saturn since 2004, meaning it’s running low on the necessary fuel stocks needed to complete the corrections to stay in orbit. Thus, in 2017, Cassini is set to self-destruct by flying into Saturn itself. So, now is a good chance to listen to a bit of history! Check out the video above featuring the strange noises coming from Saturn and be sure to share with friends and family members who also might be interested in listening to the sounds of a planet that is 745 million miles away from Earth!
