We all already know that there are lots and lots of spooky places here on Earth. That weird abandoned house a few blocks over might give you chills when you drive by it, and graveyards are always a bit unsettling at night, but what about space? Over the years, NASA has recorded all kinds of sounds from outer space with its various probes and orbiters, and some of it is downright freaky. So, just in time for Halloween, NASA has whipped up an amazing playlist with some of its most unsettling real recordings.
With a total of 22 tracks, the playlist has a lot to enjoy, but with some tracks that barely pass the 15 second mark, it won’t take you very long to make your way through the entire collection. Some of the best, like Juno’s ear-splitting recordings as it danced with Jupiter, are truly unsettling, while others like the static recorded during comet flyby, sound more like distant gunshots than anything you’d expect to hear in the depths of space.
The tracks span a huge chunk of NASA’s history, including recordings from Jupiter, Saturn, and even sounds captured in free space by Voyager. A personal favorite is track number 17, “Radar Echos from Titan’s Surface,” which sounds like a cross between an 8-bit arcade game and a dirt bike.
Whatever you do, be sure to monitor your volume controls while you’re listening, because many of the recordings have a habit of going from near-silence to ear-busting whistles and whines with zero warning. Space sounds are definitely spooky, but a busted speaker would be much more frightening.
