ESA: 'The comet seems to be emitting a ‘song’
Rosetta’s Plasma Consortium (RPC) has uncovered a mysterious ‘song’ that Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is singing into space. RPC principal investigator Karl-Heinz Glaßmeier, head of Space Physics and Space Sensorics at the Technische Universität Braunschweig, Germany, tells us more.
RPC consists of five instruments on the Rosetta orbiter that provide a wide variety of complementary information about the plasma environment surrounding Comet 67P/C-G. (Reminder: Plasma is the fourth state of matter, an electrically conductive gas that can carry magnetic fields and electrical currents.)
The instruments are designed to study a number of phenomena, including: the interaction of 67P/C-G with the solar wind, a continuous stream of plasma emitted by the Sun; changes of activity on the comet; the structure and dynamics of the comet’s tenuous plasma ‘atmosphere’, known as the coma; and the physical properties of the cometary nucleus and surface.
But one observation has taken the RPC scientists somewhat by surprise. The comet seems to be emitting a ‘song’ in the form of oscillations in the magnetic field in the comet’s environment. It is being sung at 40-50 millihertz, far below human hearing, which typically picks up sound between 20 Hz and 20 kHz. To make the music audible to the human ear, the frequencies have been increased by a factor of about 10,000.
The music was heard clearly by the magnetometer experiment (RPC-Mag) for the first time in August, when Rosetta drew to within 100 km of 67P/C-G. The scientists think it must be produced in some way by the activity of the comet, as it releases neutral particles into space where they become electrically charged due to a process called ionisation. But the precise physical mechanism behind the oscillations remains a mystery.
To listen to 'the song' you need to go to the ESA blog link. The recording is about 2/3 the way down.
http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2014/11/11/the-singing-comet/
= new reply since forum marked as read
Well worth a click through to Emily's blog which breaks things down very well.
Here's a teaser, the path of the Rosetta orbiter and the landing probe, Philae.
Last edited Tue Nov 11, 2014, 05:22 PM - Edit history (3)
enmeshed in the activities, of the species at the top of the food chain, on this planet, political, cultural and racial, I do forget about the vastness of this existence we reside in. Thanks. That vastness gives me hope that there is more. Hopefully with better and wiser beings and planes of existence in our universe....because while this is all we have, this that we do have, as far as I'm concerned, SUCKS.
no they won't, hopefully
very well put and timely, still. 
...bouncing around off the comet's nooks and crannies:
- What? You didn't know Cookie Monster was a Commie?
K&R
Response to Ichingcarpenter (Original post)