Oh no, you're thinking, yet another cookie pop-up. Well, sorry, it's the law. We measure how many people read us, and ensure you see relevant ads, by storing cookies on your device. If you're cool with that, hit “Accept all Cookies”. For more info and to customize your settings, hit “Customize Settings”.

Review and manage your consent

Here's an overview of our use of cookies, similar technologies and how to manage them. You can also change your choices at any time, by hitting the “Your Consent Options” link on the site's footer.

Manage Cookie Preferences
  • These cookies are strictly necessary so that you can navigate the site as normal and use all features. Without these cookies we cannot provide you with the service that you expect.

  • These cookies are used to make advertising messages more relevant to you. They perform functions like preventing the same ad from continuously reappearing, ensuring that ads are properly displayed for advertisers, and in some cases selecting advertisements that are based on your interests.

  • These cookies collect information in aggregate form to help us understand how our websites are being used. They allow us to count visits and traffic sources so that we can measure and improve the performance of our sites. If people say no to these cookies, we do not know how many people have visited and we cannot monitor performance.

See also our Cookie policy and Privacy policy.

This article is more than 1 year old

Astroboffins create music from SPAAAAAAAAAAACE

Milky Way muso might just unlock secrets to galaxy's youthful years

Astrophysicists from the University of Birmingham have captured ‘sounds’ from the oldest stars in the Milky Way in a bid to study how the galaxy formed, according to research published today in the Royal Astronomical Society journal Monthly Notices.

Strictly speaking, there is no sound in space since it is almost a perfect vacuum - the lack of particles means that any vibrations created by a sound wave cannot be carried across space.

Instead, the sound was interpreted by looking at how the brightness of stars in the M4 cluster changed over time. In a method known as asteroseismology, the convective motions in the outer layers of the stars produce acoustic oscillations that were measured. The motions cause changes in the star’s surface temperature which causes its light to pulsate at different frequencies.

The light provides a clue to the internal structure of the star, just like how earthquake oscillations allow seismologists to study earth. Asteroseismology also measures the mass and age of the stars, making it possible to study the Milky Way’s history.

Dr Andrea Miglio, from the University of Birmingham's School of Physics and Astronomy, who led the study, told The Register:

“Now that we have found a ‘Rosetta Stone’ to calibrate the asteroseismic age scale for very old stars, we can move onto studying the early history of our Galaxy, by applying the same technique to thousands of similar very old stars which populate different regions of our Galaxy.”

Professor Bill Chaplin, also from the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Birmingham, has referred to their work as “galactic archaeology”. The M4 cluster contains some of the oldest stars in the galaxy at nearly 13 billion years old. ®

You can listen to the stars here

 

Similar topics

TIP US OFF

Send us news


Other stories you might like