NASA releases a spooky playlist for Halloween

Cathleen Weng, Staff Writer

It is once again that time of year with witches, ghosts, goblins and horror movies galore. Halloween brings out pumpkin decorations and trick-or-treaters looking for candy. Music is played in minor keys and things go bump in the night.

Traditionally, space is not something associated with Halloween or music, but NASA has released a Halloween playlist of “Spooky Sounds from Across the Solar System.” The playlist is exactly what is on the can: a compilation of sounds from space – buzzes, whistles and radio waves compiled to send shivers down the listener’s spine.

NASA described the playlist as “a compilation of elusive ‘sounds’ of howling planets and whistling helium that is sure to make your skin crawl.”

Items on the playlist span from Jupiter to Saturn to far-off stars, a list of 20 unique “songs.” The listener is certain to have never heard anything quite like this; it is definitely a playlist that will put anyone on edge.

The playlist is available to listen to on Soundcloud for free and has already received thousands of listens. “Chorus Radio Waves within Earth’s Atmosphere” is a particularly popular one, with over 1.1 million listens.

“Radar Echoes From Titan’s Surface” is also a distinctive set of haunting sounds, reminiscent of malfunctioning electricity shocks, similar to the noise a broken pair of earphones might create.

The noises were recorded by spacecrafts as they traveled through the universe and then translated into sound waves by scientists, so if someone were to go to space, they would not hear those exact noises. The playlist is interesting nonetheless and definitely a good fit for Halloween.