Comet 67P Is Producing Sound Waves and Scientists Can Only Theorize Why (Sorry...Not Aliens)

This week marked a special accomplishment for fans of space research everywhere as an international team of scientists managed to land the probe Philae on a comet, marking the first time anything human has landed on such a body. The geological astronomic implications might come across as somewhat boring to those not invested in the field but the landing led to audio news to excite any music fan: The comet is singing.

That's a huge exaggeration but its the term the researchers used so we don't feel shameful repeating it (from FACT Magazine). Regardless of the musicality, Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is creating noise and scientists have no firm understanding why. Don't get too excited—it ain't alien life—but it's still pretty curious.

"This is exciting because it is completely new to us. We did not expect this and we are still working to understand the physics of what is happening," said Karl-Heinz Glaßmeier, the head of Space Physics and Space Sensorics at the Technische Universität Braunschweig.

They, being smarter than we are, have already offered a theory however: The team suggests that neutral particles emitted by the comet are colliding with high energy particles in the gravitational pull of the comet, creating the noise. Still, the sound itself is produced in oscillations that have yet to be explained. It may not be Vivaldi but its less spastic than say, the Dillinger Escape Plan, so there must be some scientific principle in play.

Hearing the actual sound wouldn't be possible for a theoretical astronaut, alas. The sound waves are much to low for the human ear to register so the folks at the European Space Agency increased the frequencies 10,000 times for you to listen (below). This means that in reality, like with Skrillex's sub bass, humans are more likely to feel the noise than hear it (but we're unlikely to do either, to be honest). Hence the pitch on the below recording may is much higher than the "noise" the comet is actually producing.

Now that we think about it...Skrillex has been using a lot of alien imagery in his work recently.