Rosetta's comet sings an eerily beautiful song

Comet 67P/CG, acquired by the ROLIS instrument on the Philae lander during descent from a distance of approximately 3 km (1.86 miles) from the surface is pictured in this November 12, 2014 European Space Agency (ESA) handout image. The ESA landed the
Comet 67P/CG, acquired by the ROLIS instrument on the Philae lander during descent from a distance of approximately 3 km (1.86 miles) from the surface is pictured in this November 12, 2014 European Space Agency (ESA) handout image. The ESA landed the probe on the comet on Wednesday, a first in space exploration and the climax of a decade-long mission to get samples from what are the remnants of the birth of Earth's solar system. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

Ever wondered what a comet sounds like? Thanks to the Rosetta space probe you can now listen to one. Sort of. Hurtling through space at speeds of 18 kilometres per second, the data sent back from the probe is truly interesting.

European Space Agency (ESA) reports that Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko seems to be emitting a 'song' in the form of oscillations in the magnetic field in the comet's environment. However, the song is being emitted at 40-50 millihertz, far below human hearing. To make the music audible to the human ear, the frequencies had to be increased by a factor of 10,000.

Since sound waves are unable to travel through a vacuum like space, this hum was picked up by a magnetometer experiment (RPC-Mag) when Rosetta drew within 100km of 67P/C-G in August.

"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," RPC principal investigator Karl-Heinz said in a press release.

You can hear the comet's song right here:

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