Does space have a sound?

Question from Mary Marshall

As sound can’t travel through a vacuum, space is silent. Or at least space is silent to our ears. Space contains many electromagnetic signals, like radio waves. These signals are created by black holes, planets and other sources. Just like a radio set turns radio signals that you can’t hear into noises that you can, scientific instruments can convert these electromagnetic signals from space into sound. So, although space is silent, you can sort of ‘hear’ it. Different planets and stars even make different ‘noises’.


Answered by Tom Lean for Brain Dump in How It Works issue 112

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