Jupiter upstream ion acoustic waves recorded by Voyager 1
Channel: Space Audio
Date: 2013-08-13

The Voyager 1 plasma wave instrument recorded these signals while still over 14 million km from Jupiter, far upstream in the solar wind ahead of Jupiter's magnetosphere.  These ion acoustic waves are a close analogy to sound in the atmosphere with longitudinal oscillations propagating through the plasma environment much like pressure waves through the air, except that long-range electrostatic forces transfer the energy rather than collisions.  The energy that drives these waves probably comes from the collision of the super-sonic solar wind with the planet's massive magnetosphere.

For more information on the Voyager project:
http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/

This is a sample from the collection of Prof Don Gurnett's favorite space audio recordings available from:
http://space-audio.org/

For similar videos:
https://www.youtube.com/user/VoyagerPWS/videos