What Does a Nebula Sound Like?

By Nancy Atkinson - February 9, 2012 at 3:13 PM UTC | Stars

What do things sound like out in the cosmos? Of course, sound waves can't travel through the vacuum of space; however, electromagnetic waves can. These electromagnetic waves can be recorded by devices called spectrographs on many of the world's most powerful telescopes. Astronomer

Paul Francis

from the Australian National University has used some of these recordings and converted them into sound by reducing their frequency 1.75 trillion times to make them audible, as the original frequencies are too high to be heard by the human ear.

"This allows us to listen to many parts of the universe for the first time," Francis wrote on his website. "We can hear the song of a comet, the chimes of stars being born or dying, the choir of a quasar eating the heart of a galaxy, and much more."

Above, is Francis' recording of a nebula. It is actually a medley of sounds from different nebulae, but our friend César Cantú of the

Chilidog Observatory

in Monterrey, Mexico, has put together the sounds with images he took of the Rosette Nebula, or NGC2244.

This provides both a visual and audio hint of what a nebula might sound like, if our ears could hear at electromagnetic frequencies. Being able to 'hear' this gives one a feeling akin to being Superman! -- as well as offering new insights into our Universe.

Francis also has the sounds of the Sun, quasars, comets, other nebulae, and more. Check out

his audio recordings here.

And many thanks to

César Cantú

to for sending us his video.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com