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  "path": "/science/scientists-reveal-suns-hidden-musical-notes-predict-space-weather",
  "publishedAt": "2026-03-04T11:06:35.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.gbnews.com",
  "tags": [
    "Neanderthals MATED with human women scientists reveal in groundbreaking new study",
    "'Lost chapter of human history' uncovered in mysterious 40,000-year-old symbols",
    "Egyptian pyramids ‘built by advanced civilisation’ thousands of years earlier than thought",
    "Jupiter's frozen moons may have arrived in the solar system with the ingredients for life already inside them.",
    "The GB News Editorial Charter"
  ],
  "textContent": "\n\n\nA new study has revealed “notes” produced by the sun may be able to predict powerful solar eruptions that can disrupt satellites, communications and power grids on Earth.\n\nBy tracking the subtle shifts of notes during quiet periods, scientists have been able to identify “standing waves” that resonate and produce a clear pitch amid the turbulent outer layers of the sun.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nSound waves bouncing around pockets of the sun begin to resonate, rendering it a form of giant gaseous instrument.\n\nBill Chaplin, professor of astrophysics at the University of Birmingham, co-lead the new study, and explained how while we cannot here the sound trapped within the sun, it can be analaysed.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nTRENDING\n\nStories\n\nVideos\n\nYour Say\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nScientists have been able to track the intricate movement of the sun's surface to reveal hidden sounds in remarkably low pitch.\n\nTones vibrate at about three thousandths of a cycle per second — roughly one oscillation every five minutes - comparable to a bass, rumbling far below human auditory range.\n\nThrough helioseismology, the study of said vibrations, scientists can infer what is happening beneath the surface, as changes in temperature, pressure and magnetic fields subtly alter the speed and frequency of sound.\n\nPublished in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, the study saw Mr Chaplin and his team compare four recent periods when the sun was calm, with its activity rising and falling on an 11-year cycle.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nTypically at it's maximum, the sun displays more sunspots and emits more high-energy flares - but using data from the Birmingham Solar Oscillations Network, a global array of telescopes that has monitored the sun’s oscillations since the late 1970s, the researchers studied the quieter periods.\n\nResearchers were testing to see whether the sun’s internal music changed during these quieter periods, which appeared to be the case.\n\nOne particular signal caught their attention, from an inner layer of the sun where helium gas changes state in a unique way, leaving a mark on the sun’s sound pattern.\n\nDuring the especially quiet solar minimum of 2008-09, that mark was noticeably stronger than during other quiet periods.\n\n### LATEST DEVELOPMENTS\n\n\n\n\n  * Neanderthals MATED with human women scientists reveal in groundbreaking new study\n  * 'Lost chapter of human history' uncovered in mysterious 40,000-year-old symbols\n  * Egyptian pyramids ‘built by advanced civilisation’ thousands of years earlier than thought\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nAnalysing the sun in it's calmest state, scientists discovered a unique sound emission not otherwise noticeable, allowing them to estimate what had changed inside the star.\n\nThe best explanation was that sound was travelling slightly faster in a layer just below the surface, suggesting higher gas pressure and temperature there - and that the magnetic fields were weaker.\n\nGiven that the sun’s magnetic activity is what drives space weather with charged particles that cause the northern lights to appear, the new research could allow scientists to predict when such events could occur.\n\nBill Chaplin said: “What’s happening beneath the sun during a quiet period is interesting because that has a bearing on how activity levels then build up in the cycle that follows.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n”A clearer understanding of the sun’s internal music during these lulls could therefore improve forecasts of future solar storms - and that may help protect the technologies on which modern life depends\".\n\nThe discovery comes promptly after research this week found Jupiter's frozen moons may have arrived in the solar system with the ingredients for life already inside them.\n\nScientists from the Southwest Research Institute, Aix-Marseille University, and the Institute for Advanced Studies have demonstrated carbon-based compounds containing oxygen and nitrogen - elements vital for living organisms - could have been woven into these celestial bodies from their earliest beginnings.\n\nThe study reveals that Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto likely inherited complex organic molecules at the very moment of their formation, some billions of years ago.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n**Our Standards:The GB News Editorial Charter **",
  "title": "Scientists reveal how Sun’s hidden musical notes could predict ‘space weather'"
}