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NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft has spotted a strange humcoming from deep space. Launched by NASA 44 years ago, theVoyager1spacemission is currently the mostdistant human-made object tohaveleft our solar system nine years ago.
Sincethenit has explored the near-emptyatmosphere of interstellar space andprovidedimportant data thatwill help us understand the universe beyond our solar system.
Scientists have detected a “permanenthum” caused by the constant vibration of tinyamounts of gas in interstellar space, according to equipment aboard adistant spacecraft.
According to astudy published in the journal Nature Astronomy, this constant monotonous hum is the sound of oscillating plasma waves and is quite deep.
A team led by Cornell University is analyzing data received by the Voyager 1 probe 14 billion miles away. Stella Koch Ocker, a graduate student at Cornell University in New York and one of the study’s authors, said the sound was very quiet and monotonous becauseof the narrow frequency spectrum. You can hear the audio below.
Voyager 1 flew past Jupiter in 1979 and Saturn ayearlaterbeforecrossing the heliopause, the boundary between the solar system and interstellar space, in August 2012.
It has now approached the interstellar medium. Previously, Voyager1’splasmawavesystemhaddetectedoscillationsinthegas after crossing the heliopause, but these were controlled by our Sun.
“The interstellar medium is like a gentle rain,” said James Cordes, senior author of the study, in a statement posted on Cornell University’s website.
Researchers now believe that there is more activity than previously assumed in interstellar gas. Scientists may use Voyager-1 data to better understand the interactions between the interstellar medium and the sun’s solar wind, which is a constant stream of charged particles.
Shami Chatterjee, a Cornell research scientist, stated why continual surveillance of interstellar space is crucial, saying that scientists have never had the opportunity to analyze interstellar plasma, but they now do since Voyager 1 is passing through them and sending back the crucial data.
