Listen to the eerie sounds of a solar storm hitting the Earth's magnetic field
Put horror movies and games aside for a few minutes to listen to something truly unsettling this Halloween season. Thehas released audio of what our planet's magnetic field sounds like. While it protects us from cosmic radiation and charged particles from solar winds, it turns out that the magnetic field has an unnerving rumble.
collected by the ESA's three Swarm satellites into sound, representing both the magnetic field and a solar storm.The ethereal audio reminds me of wooden wind chimes rattling as a mass of land shifts, perhaps during an earthquake. It brings to mind the cracking sounds of a moving glacier as well. You might get something different out of the five-minute clip.
If you happen to visit Solbjerg Square in Copenhagen this week, you may be able to immerse yourself in the magnetic field's low rumble. More than 30 loudspeakers are pointed at the ground there. They'll broadcast the audio three times daily until October 30th. “We have set it up so that each speaker represents a different location on Earth and demonstrates how our magnetic field has fluctuated over the last 100,000 years," Nielsen said.