Scientists Find ‘Chorus Waves’ in Unexpected Part of Space

International researchers recently released a study on bursts of energy in an unexpected area of space.

Scientists call the energetic activity “chorus waves” because they are said to move at the same frequency as sounds humans can hear. When the energy is turned into audio signals, the waves sound like birds chirping.

Researchers have known about chorus waves in space for many years. But the latest research has found the waves exist 100,000 kilometers from Earth. Chorus waves have never before been measured at such a big distance from a planet.

In an email, study writer Chengming Liu from Beihang University in Beijing wrote: “They are one of the strongest and most significant waves in space.”

Allison Jaynes is a space physicist at the University of Iowa who was not involved with the study. Speaking about the recent study, Jaynes said, “That opens up a lot of new questions about the physics that could be possible in this area.”

The newfound chorus waves were detected in an area where Earth's magnetic field is stretched out. Scientists said they did not expect to find the waves there. The discovery raises new questions about how the chirping waves form.

Jaynes added, “We definitely need to find more of these events.”

Scientists still are not sure how the waves develop. But they think Earth’s magnetic field may have something to do with it.

For many years, radio antennas have picked up chorus waves. This includes receivers at an Antarctica research station in the 1960s. And NASA’s two Van Allen Probes heard the chirping sounds from Earth's radiation belts at a closer distance than the newest observations.

The latest chorus waves were picked up by NASA's Magnetospheric Multiscale satellites. They were launched in 2015 to explore the Earth and the sun's magnetic fields.

Chorus waves have also been found near other planets including Jupiter and Saturn. The waves can produce high-energy electrons. That means they can threaten satellite communications.

The researchers said their findings suggest that chorus waves might be found everywhere in the magnetic fields of planets.

The study was released on January 22 in the scientific publication Nature.

I’m Anna Matteo.

Adithi Ramakrishnan reported this story for the Associated Press from New York. Anna Matteo adapted it for VOA Learning English.

chorus –n. a group of singers who sing together

significant –adj. important, meaningful

chirping –n. short, sharp sounds similar to the songs of certain birds

frequency –n. the number of times a wave form repeats in a certain amount of time

magnetic field –n. the area around a magnetized object that is influenced by its magnetism

antenna –n. a device that carries radio waves to a receiver

radiation belt –n. an area of charged particles around a planet that is formed largely because of its magnetic field

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