It’s been a big summer for the sun.
We’ve had quite a bit of solar activity, with aurora borealis in a lot of places that don’t normally see them.
And there’s new research that reveals some new details about our solar system’s top star, including that it’s very loud!
A lot of what we’re learning about the sun comes from the Parker Solar Probe, which NASA launched in 2018.
Not only is this probe orbiting the sun, it’s flying through the sun’s extremely hot corona to learn more about the sun, in particular, the solar wind.
That’s plasma with an electrical charge, and it’s what causes the amazing auroras in the night sky, plus the geomagnetic storms that sometimes disrupt our electronic communication systems on Earth.
It’s also pushing these charged particles out into space at supersonic speeds all the time.
That’s like what waves do, and, of course, we can hear certain frequencies of waves that pass through air or water or another medium.
Space doesn’t have such a medium, but the probe was able to track the pressure wave’s frequencies and amplitude and then “translate” it into sound.
These are some very sci-fi sounds, lots of whooshing and roaring noises, sometimes a high-pitched whistling, pretty much what you’d expect some kind of space wind to sound like.
I don’t know that it’s something you’d want to hear all the time, though, even if you like the sounds.
By one scientist’s calculations, if we could hear the sound of the solar wind, it would be about 110 dB here on Earth.
That’s close to the human pain threshold, or a really powerful rock concert, potentially as damaging to your ears as looking at the sun is to your eyes.
Our home star doesn’t do anything halfway, does it?
Starting today in Cumberland, Wisconsin, it’s Rutabaga Fest.
There’s live music, a hot pepper eating contest, pancake breakfasts, a Grand Parade, and a kids competition known as the Baga Olympics.
Rutabaga fans will be sure to turnip.
The Sun: Extremely loud and incredibly hot (Astronomy.com)
Cumberland, WI Rutabaga Festival
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Photo via NASA/Goddard/SDO
