As people on Earth prepare to pay homage to ghosts, ghouls and things that go bump in the night, NASA has released hair-raising sounds from beyond the atmosphere that were gathered on the space agency’s missions.
Uploaded to a special Halloween playlist on Soundcloud, the clips have been generated from data picked up by spacecraft whizzing through the great expanse, such as Juno and the Van Allen Probes.
“In time for Halloween, we’ve put together a compilation of elusive ‘sounds’ of howling planets and whistling helium that is sure to make your skin crawl,” NASA said in a statement.
Perhaps the most chilling is the sound of Saturn radio emissions, which were initially picked up by the Cassini spacecraft in 2002. Cassini plunged into Saturn’s atmosphere on September 15 at its mission finale.
But in audio captured by the probe, the eerie tones sound similar to those converted from data on Earth’s northern lights. While the source of the sounds is known, it’s difficult not to imagine a wailing wraith as being the cause.
Creepy audio taken by Stardust - a NASA mission to study comets - sounds like long fingernails tapping on a window pane. However, the noises were actually a spacecraft being struck by dust particles and rocks from the comet Tempel 1 back in 2011.
The audio extravaganza also features the ‘roar’ of Jupiter, capturing the moment spacecraft Juno passed through the giant planet’s magnetic field.