Heliophysics Audified: Resonances in Plasma (HARP)
Our Sun ejects a steady stream of charged particles. Some of these particles impact Earth’s magnetic field, which rebounds, flexing and dancing. The HARP project invites you to help study the strumming of this magnetic field and the waves and vibrations that result.
The project examines data from three NASA THEMIS mission satellites orbiting Earth. These satellites, part of the “Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS)” mission, measure motions of the Earth’s magnetic field, which can teach us about the space weather. The HARP project converts these measurements to sound and asks you to help look for patterns amid the noise.
ages
18 and up
division
Heliophysics
where
Online
launched
2023
What you'll do
- View satellite data and listen to sounds of waves in the Earth’s magnetic field.
- Learn how to recognize patterns within the sounds and data visualizations.
- Place markers on the data to show where you hear pure tones and mixes of tones. You’ll start with a few practice runs, then move on to new data.
Requirements
- Time: 5-15 minutes to complete the tutorial
- Equipment: Web-connected computer
- Knowledge: None. An online tutorial provides all instruction needed.
Get started!
- Visit the project website.
- Click on the grey bar that says “Click here to sign up and get started!” and create a user profile.
- Complete the practice module.
- Start your exploration of sounds from space!
Learn More
Visit the project website to learn more about the HARP project and the physics and phenomena we are studying. Want to go even deeper into the science? Check out our About HARP Science page.
![The project interface has a divided screen, all on a black field. On the left, we see Earth surrounded by the elliptical path THEMIS spacecraft travel, depicted in bright white. The Sun, which appears as a bright yellow circle, is outside of this path and to the right. On the right hand side of the interface, we see two graphs. The graph on top visualizes the waveform, which appears as a highly jagged purple line that oscillates rapidly between -6 and 6 nT (nanoteslas) through a roughly three-day period of time. Below this graph and sharing the same x-axis of time we see the spectrogram of the sound, which appears to have three distinct parts. The first shows one large “u” shaped line in dark pink. The second shows the same “U” shaped line with a second, pinker U-shaped line above it, with purple splotches of data noise behind. The third shows just the purple splotches of noise.](https://science.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/screenshot-2023-06-27-at-11.22.03-am.png?w=4096&format=png)
![](https://science.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/harp-logo-outline.png?w=4096&format=png)
![A THEMIS spacecraft, which look like a big box with solar panels on the left side and long poles extending out from each of its six faces, is in the lower right. Behind it is Earth, recognizable by its pattern of land masses and oceans. Jutting out from each pole are bright purple lines that loop in deformed arcs before rejoining the opposite pole. On the right side of Earth in this view the arcs are nearly circular. To the left, they are extended into oblong loops.A THEMIS spacecraft, which look like a big box with solar panels on the left side and long poles extending out from each of its six faces, is in the lower right. Behind it is Earth, recognizable by its pattern of land masses and oceans. Jutting out from each pole are bright purple lines that loop in deformed arcs before rejoining the opposite pole. On the right side of Earth in this view the arcs are nearly circular. To the left, they are extended into oblong loops.](https://science.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/themis-magnetosphere-t.jpg?w=4096&format=jpeg)
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Alexandra "Ale" Pacini
Heliophysics Scientist, NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Informaton
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