By — Margaret Myers Margaret Myers Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/listen-song-speeding-comet Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Listen to the ‘song’ of a speeding comet Science Nov 13, 2014 6:06 PM EDT A few months before the European Space Agency successfully landed a probe on the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, scientists detected sound emanating from the cosmic mass that was soaring through space at 36,000 mph. ESA captured the comet’s “song” using several instruments aboard the Rosetta spacecraft, which was speeding alongside the comet. And though the sound is outside the range of normal human hearing at 40 to 50 mHz, scientists boosted its frequency by a factor of 10,000. In a statement, ESA officials said the sound is produced by “oscillations in the magnetic field in the comet’s environment.” You can listen to those oscillations above. PBS NewsHour Science Correspondent Miles O’Brien will have more on the Rosetta spacecraft’s mission on tonight’s show. We're not going anywhere. Stand up for truly independent, trusted news that you can count on! Donate now By — Margaret Myers Margaret Myers Margaret Myers is the former Digital News Editor for PBS NewsHour. She is a former editor for ESPN.com. She also led the features department at the Amarillo Globe-News in west Texas. @margaretvm
A few months before the European Space Agency successfully landed a probe on the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, scientists detected sound emanating from the cosmic mass that was soaring through space at 36,000 mph. ESA captured the comet’s “song” using several instruments aboard the Rosetta spacecraft, which was speeding alongside the comet. And though the sound is outside the range of normal human hearing at 40 to 50 mHz, scientists boosted its frequency by a factor of 10,000. In a statement, ESA officials said the sound is produced by “oscillations in the magnetic field in the comet’s environment.” You can listen to those oscillations above. PBS NewsHour Science Correspondent Miles O’Brien will have more on the Rosetta spacecraft’s mission on tonight’s show. We're not going anywhere. Stand up for truly independent, trusted news that you can count on! Donate now