The strange 'voice' of the Sun: radio signals from a sunspot converted into sound

Humans are used to seeing our star through visible light, but the Sun also emits signals in other ways.

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In addition to visible light, we can also perceive the Sun in the infrared and ultraviolet spectrum. Likewise, like other celestial bodies, our star emits radio signals generated by its electromagnetic radiation, signals that are especially strong during solar flares, reaching the Earth's ionosphere and potentially affecting our communications.

Sunspots also emit these types of signals. In March 2024, a scientific study identified a phenomenon similar to a terrestrial aurora above a large sunspot, generating radio bursts lasting more than a week, whereas the Sun usually emits brief radio bursts lasting minutes or hours. However, and as NASA pointed out, "unlike Earth’s auroras, though, the radio bursts from sunspots occur at much higher frequencies – hundreds of thousands of kilohertz to roughly 1 million kilohertz.".

This Sunday, the YouTube channel DudeLovesSpace published an interesting video that explains it as follows: "I captured close-up footage of the Sun through my solar telescope while simultaneously recording its radio signals using my antenna setup. You are looking at an active region with an earth sized sunspot (AR4381), watch as plasma flows in and out, following the magnetic field lines. " The video's creator converted those radio signals into sound. The result is a strange and fascinating "voice" emanating from our star: