Traditional / experimental practice

The Sound of the Universe · A Solar Flare

On 3 October 2024 the Sun produced a strong X9-class flare. The minute-by-minute record of the GOES-16 satellite's X-ray sensor (10:30-14:30 UTC) was fitted into eight minutes in this part; the X-ray flux was turned into the brightness, and a little into the loudness, of the sound. The flux rises about a hundredfold at 12:18 UTC: around the fourth minute the sound opens up, then slowly closes again. This is a sonification, not a recording from space: data or measured numbers were turned into sound with a stated mapping. There is no claim of any effect.

8 minNo headphones neededEvidence level S: Soundscape, no claim

Liner notes

Body: Cluster drone · 110 Hz
What do you hear?: tonal · continuous · narrow

A single layer; generated on this device every time it plays.

How is this sound made?

Cluster drone−14 dB
Cluster drone · A2 (440 Hz tuning), 4 oscillators

Reverb: room, 12% mix

In the room you can listen to each layer on its own, change its settings and save it as your own recipe.

Sound is generated on this device in real time; no files are downloaded from a server. There is a 8 s fade-in at the start and a 0 min fade-out at the end.

Compare with another sound

Hear both at the same loudness; drag the slider to the middle and they blend.

These two sounds can't share one recipe (different tuning or effects): listen to the samples one after the other.

B: neighbours on the map

Another sound

What do we know, what don't we know?

S · Soundscape, no claim

No health or mental-effect claim at all; it is simply a soundscape.

This session isn't linked to any claim of effect.

A session's level is the weakest of its linked claims; it is never raised by a strong but unrelated claim.

Its neighbours on the map

The five sounds closest to this one by measured sound features.

See on the map

Keep your device volume comfortable, preferably below 60%. You can also use your device's headphone-safety settings.