Re: sounds of planets

"JR" == Jeff Root <jeff5@xxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:

JR> Greg Neill replied to Allan Adler:

On p.66 of Lehman Engel's book, "Words with music" (2006), he
writes: "In The Merchant of Venic, the garden scene, this line
occurs: 'There's not the smallest orb which thou behold'st/but in
his motion like an angel sings...' What the hell. This was
written in the 17th century by a non-scientist and we didn't know
until three centuries later that the planets actually give off a
musical sound as they spin in space."
[...]
JR> I have no idea who Lehman Engel is/was (...), and I figured
JR> someone else would know more about the radio signals from Jupiter
JR> than I do... My recollection is that radio signals generated by
JR> Jupiter's magnetic field were first detected in the 1960's.

1955, by Franklin & Burke.

Great story accompanies the discovery. Every so often, they'd see
this interference in their observations. They were getting really
annoyed with it until one night somebody wandered into their "control
room," and remarked that Jupiter was really high and bright in the
night sky. That's when it clicked as to the source of the interference.


JR> When converted to audio they often do sound musical. A flimsy
JR> basis for saying that planets "give off a musical sound as they
JR> spin in space."

Agreed. One of the most depressing things about trying to work in the
radio band is trying to explain to non-scientists that radio waves are
not sound waves.

JR> Planets spin constantly, of course, and the spinning probably has
JR> little to do with the generation of either the magnetic field or
JR> the radio signals.

Actually, the spinning may have every thing to do with the generation
of the magnetic field. Consider the case of Earth and Venus. The two
planets have comparable masses, but only Earth has a magnetic field.
It is the faster rotating of the two. Indeed, I believe that the most
recent models for the generation of the Earth's magnetic field require
that the planet rotate.

JR> It should modify the signals, though, so perhaps the rotation is a
JR> factor in determining the tones that are heard.

It certainly does that. In fact, for all of the gas giants, the
modulation of the radio emission is used to *define* the rotation
period of the planet.

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