Scientists at Britain’s University of York have found that stars may be emitting sound that is so high pitched that no mammal could hear it.
Why? Because, it is playing into a vacuum.
"Sound cannot propagate through the vacuum of space, so no one can hear them," said a researcher at York. "The stars might be singing," said John Pasley, a University of York physicist.
In Asteroseismology studies, astronomers have effectively turned tiny variations in a star’s light into sound, reported Earthsky website. However, the new findings suggest that the stars themselves are generating these sounds.
Researchers have analyzed how plasma moves when hit with an ultra-intense laser and found that it disperses quickly moving from areas of high density to areas of low density, creating plasma build up between the high and low density areas. Such buildup generates a series of sound wave pulsations with frequencies of nearly a trillion hertz, according to Popular Science.
"When they are accumulating new material stars could generate sound in a very similar manner to that which we observed in the laboratory – so the stars might be singing," said Pasley.
Some of Earth’s best listeners, such as dolphins and bats, can only hear 100,000 hertz. Humans can hear just up to 20,000 hertz.
