Impossibly possible

“Sound does not travel at all in space. The vacuum of outer space has essentially zero air. Because sound is just vibrating air, space has no air to vibrate and therefore no sound.” This is what you can instantly find when you Google search "Is there noise in space?" But it's not that simple. Space is not a complete vacuum, which makes sound travel possible, at least in theory here, a lot would seem to depend on the wave force.

In 2006, NASA fixed a complex instrument to a giant balloon and sent it into space. This experiment aimed to look for any sound waves coming from distant stars, and the results were short of astounding, completely disrupting previous silent space records. NASA’s tool had picked up signals about six times louder than they initially expected. Yet, analyzing this signal is still challenging as several theories could potentially explain how those signals were seen.

For 16 years now, Individuals are still debating the source of this signal. Some believe it could be coming from our galaxy rather than several different ones. According to Jack Singal, an Associate Professor of Physics at the University of Richmond. “The possibility that this roar’s coming from the Milky Way is not completely ruled out. However, such a scenario remains unlikely because it would imply our galaxy does not function the same way as any other spiral galaxy we are aware of.”

Throughout the universe clouds of dust and gas can be found. These can be the remains of long-dead stars or regions where matter’s pulled together to form new ones. In these space-faring clouds, the gas and dust can become clustered and thus dense. What this means is that it’s possible for there to be enough particles close enough together for sound to occur and travel a small distance. An example of sound in space is within black holes, but unfortunately, it’s humanly impossible to hear. In 2003 at NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, the sound came from the Perseus galaxy more than 250 million light-years away. The sound was measured in a B-flat. That’s a frequency, billions of times lower than is physically possible for humans to hear.

In 2022, people on Earth were able to hear the planetary sounds of Mars thanks to two microphones installed onboard NASA's Perseverance rover. The audio clips of these sounds in space captured range from a gust of Martian wind to the snapping sound of the rover’s laser hitting a rock. According to NASA, these sounds are subtly different from what you would hear on Earth, being quieter and more muffled due to the lower density and different composition of the Martian atmosphere. Even so, anyone expecting other planets to sound truly "alien" might be disappointed by just how ordinary Perseverance's recordings sound. But there are other possibilities.

The planetary sounds we hear, are wavelike vibrations of air molecules occurring within the range of frequencies to which our ears are sensitive, according to the BBC. Sounds in space are mostly related to high pitch sounds of glass ringing together, cartoon sounds, or very low music sounds. I advise you to listen to some of these sounds as they are wildly mesmerizing.

This small article is for people who are feeling emptier than space right now. Space is never truly empty. Something is waiting around every corner. You just need to listen hard and the impossible is heard. Look close enough the impossible is seen. Do everything in your power and the impossible is no more impossible. If sounds can be created in a soundless place, anyone can do anything. In these past couple of years, there’s been a lot of secludedness and alone time. We are never alone.