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Earth's Cries as Heard from Space

By Alex in Science & Tech on Jul 2, 2008 at 2:24 am


Scientists knew that Earth is crying since the 1970s, but they’ve just recently been able to listen to it.

The "cry" is actually a series of chirp and whistles created by solar wind particles colliding with the Earth’s magnetic field high above the planet, and is called the Auroral Kilometric Radiation (AKR):

The Auroral Kilometric Radiation (AKR), as it is called, is beamed out in a narrow plane, as if someone had put a mask over a torch and left a slit for the radiation to escape.

This flat beam could be detected by aliens who’ve figured this process out, the researchers say. The knowledge could also be used by Earth’s astronomers to detect planets around other stars, if they can build a new radio telescope big enough for the search. They could also learn more about Jupiter and Saturn by studying AKR, which should emit from the auroral activity on those worlds, too.

Link | Listen to the soundThanks Geekazoid!


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COMMENT
  1. Larfin Jackarse
    Jul 2nd, 2008 at 7:10 am

    Let me guess....

    It is saying 'beam me up, there is no intelligent life down here'.

  2. CheeseDuck
    Jul 2nd, 2008 at 8:16 am

    Woo! Sending messages to aliens with radiation chirps!

  3. avraamov
    Jul 2nd, 2008 at 11:39 am

    it's hard to hear what's going on because of what sounds like super a low bit-rate. and a super cheesy voice-over.

  4. mykllee
    Jul 2nd, 2008 at 2:02 pm

    My first thought was it sounded like the sound from Transformers when they're hacking into the the network.

  5. Ali S.
    Jul 2nd, 2008 at 2:16 pm

    @ avraamov

    I agree the whole point was to hear the sounds not the voice over! Grrrr.

    Conspiracy time! Maybe those scientists didn't want us to hear it...maybe they caught something that would make us all scared...like the Earth speaking in tongues.

  6. Lionheart
    Jul 2nd, 2008 at 7:53 pm

    It reminded me to the Transformer´s film also.

  7. The Other Parker
    Jul 2nd, 2008 at 8:25 pm

    Wait, what made the earth start crying in the '70s? (Just kidding, but that first sentence could probably be rewritten for clarity...)

  8. Thomas
    Jul 3rd, 2008 at 1:41 am

    I'd have cried too, if I knew the 80's were coming.

  9. Lasse
    Jul 3rd, 2008 at 5:30 am

    "Help me, i got the humans"

  10. ted
    Jul 3rd, 2008 at 6:23 am

    Disco?

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