01101001
2008-Jan-17, 04:45 PM
National Public Radio: The Musical Sounds of Space (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=930399)
In space, one cannot hear sounds. But a new musical work -- commissioned by NASA -- is based on radio waves gathered from the far reaches of the solar system.
For Morning Edition, Gayane Torosyan of member station WSUI reports on Sun Rings, composed by Terry Riley and performed by the Kronos Quartet. The work includes sounds collected over 40 years by University of Iowa physicist Don Gurnett.
Working with NASA, Gurnett has used various spacecraft including the Voyagers, Galileo, and Cassini to capture those signals, transmit them to Earth, and convert them into sound in his lab. "We've flown spacecraft by almost every planet in the solar system, especially the outer planets -- Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune," Gurnett says.
Includes some audio-clips. I think dolphins would enjoy it -- but what I heard was all sampling, I think, and the beautiful string instruments weren't singing yet.
In space, one cannot hear sounds. But a new musical work -- commissioned by NASA -- is based on radio waves gathered from the far reaches of the solar system.
For Morning Edition, Gayane Torosyan of member station WSUI reports on Sun Rings, composed by Terry Riley and performed by the Kronos Quartet. The work includes sounds collected over 40 years by University of Iowa physicist Don Gurnett.
Working with NASA, Gurnett has used various spacecraft including the Voyagers, Galileo, and Cassini to capture those signals, transmit them to Earth, and convert them into sound in his lab. "We've flown spacecraft by almost every planet in the solar system, especially the outer planets -- Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune," Gurnett says.
Includes some audio-clips. I think dolphins would enjoy it -- but what I heard was all sampling, I think, and the beautiful string instruments weren't singing yet.