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Re: (meteorobs) Sounds from Jupiter
At 17:32 2000/12/30 -0800, you wrote:
>NASA has just released an audio from Jupiter. I was wondering if this
>weird sound reflects meteors entering the Jovian atmosphere? I presume
>that radio observers of meteors hear the audio at least in some modes of
>observation.
No, and no.
The text accompanying the sounds gives the probable explanation for their
generation.
Neat sounds, tho! Not like the 'spherics here on earth - but then probably
produced by very different means.
On earth, most radio work is on the lower and middle VHF frequencies (for
forward scatter. Backscatter work sometimes higher in frequency). Any
radio emission by a meteor at these frequencies is probably too weak to be
detected. (This has been attempted, with results only a little better than
would be expected from random noise). However, there has been more
interest recently in VLF (very Low freq) emission from brighter meteors.
It is reported that good correlations were made during the Leonids these
past two years.
And for many years, there have been occasional reports of "electrophonic"
sounds (seemingly heard by the ears, but coincidentally with the passage of
the meteor, much too soon for sound waves to arrive). It's now believed
that these "sounds" are produced by VLF emissions, but nobody knows for
sure how.
More on http://www.qsldot net/w8wn/hscw/papers/fireball.html,
http://gefs.ccsdot ukydot edu,
http://www.astro.uni-bonndot de/~dfischer/mirror/186.html (middle of page),
and some of the other visual and radio astronomy pages. (No, I've never
heard one).
Shelby
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