What a ‘twinkle’ star sounds like: ‘Eerily mesmerizing’ sound caused by rippling gas waves in a stellar core is similar to a ‘warped beam gun’, experts say
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Twinkling off into deep space, it’s hard to imagine some stars sounding like a warped ray gun.
But cutting-edge technology suggests this is the case, after scientists first created simulations that reveal the “creepily fascinating” sounds.
Researchers at Northwestern University have revealed what “twinkle” stars sound like after converting the rippling gas waves in the stellar cores into sound waves.
You may be surprised to know that these luminescent orbs often emit sounds such as weather sirens and even distant buzzes in a “windy terrain,” according to the US team.
“Waves emanating from the core of a large star, for example, make sounds like a warped ray gun blasting through an alien landscape,” said lead author Dr Evan Anders of the study said.
New technology used by Northwestern University has revealed what stars really sound like
“But the star changes these sounds as the waves reach the surface of the star.”
As part of this study, researchers developed the first 3D simulations of what actually happens in the heart of the star.
In the star’s core, intense pressure squeezes hydrogen atoms to form helium atoms and excess energy.
This energy gives rise to heat, causing blob-like plasma to rise as if it were inside a lava lamp.
These waves then usually ripple outward onto the star’s surface, where they compress and decompress the star’s plasma, making the star’s light brighter and dimmer.
Dr. However, Andres claims that other waves also “get stuck” and keep bouncing around the star.
Understanding this, scientists were able to convert the rippling waves of gas into sound waves, allowing people to hear what the insides of stars and the “twinkle” should sound like.
Because the waves are beyond the range of human hearing, researchers uniformly raised their frequencies to make them audible.
Inside a star: In the star’s core, intense pressure squeezes hydrogen atoms to form helium atoms and excess energy. This energy gives rise to heat, causing blob-like plasma to rise – as if it were inside a lava lamp. These waves then usually ripple outward onto the star’s surface, where they compress and decompress the star’s plasma, making the star’s light brighter and dimmer.
Depending on how big or bright a star is, Dr. Otherwise the convection produces waves that correspond to different sounds.
He continued, “For a large star, the beam gun-like pulses turn into a low echo bouncing off an empty room.
‘Waves on the surface of a medium-sized star, on the other hand, conjure up images of a sustained hum through a windy terrain.
“And surface waves on a small star sound like a plaintive alarm from a weather siren.”
The team even passed songs by different stars to understand whether these masses have the ability to change tone.
To test this, audio clips of ‘Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star’ were used alongside a recording of ‘The Planets’ by the classical composer Gustav Holst.
He added, “We were curious to see how a song would sound when propagated by a star.
“The stars change the music and with it how the waves would look if we saw them twinkling on the surface of the star.”
In another first, the Northwestern team also discovered how many stars should shine naturally.
To do this, Dr. Anders and his team created a filter to understand how waves should bounce around the inside of a real star.
When the filter was applied, simulations showed what the waves would look like when viewed through a high-powered telescope.
Dr. Anders said, “Stars get a little bit brighter or a little bit dimmer, depending on different things going on dynamically inside the star.”
‘The twinkle these waves cause is extremely subtle and our eyes are not sensitive enough to see it. But powerful future telescopes may be able to detect it.’