Scientists have detected cosmic waves that sound like birds chirping while being found far beyond Earth’s influence—over 62,000 miles (100,000 kilometers) away. These mysterious “chorus waves,” which ripple at the same frequency as human hearing, create sharp notes when converted to audio signals. Resembling high-pitched bird calls, these waves have been captured in space before but now are observed from an unexpected location.
The discovery was made by NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale satellites in 2015 and published in Nature this week. Researchers believe Earth’s magnetic field might play a role in how these perturbations occur. Though scientists aren’t entirely sure about the cause, they note that chorus waves have been spotted near other planets like Jupiter and Saturn and are linked to high-energy electrons that could disrupt satellite communications.
This finding is significant because it challenges previous assumptions about where such waves form and opens new questions in space physics. “It’s very captivating,” said Allison Jaynes of the University of Iowa, who was not involved in the work. “We definitely need to find more of these events.”
Source: https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/scientists-detect-chirping-cosmic-waves-unexpected-part-space-117980215