NASA Just Released Terrifying Radio Recordings from Space

The Halloween spirit is possessing your heart and mind, and you have an irrepressible urge to mutilate squash and dress like a meme. You just could pop on "Thriller," but after so many spins even the hits start to decay. Consider looking back and beyond, even past the "Monster Mash," to accompany your pumpkin carving this year: NASA has released a selection of spooky sounds from outer space, and you can listen to them on SoundCloud.

In related news, NASA has a SoundCloud.

To say that these are "sounds" from space isn't 100% accurate. They're actually radio waves converted into sound. The same way a radio (that arcane box in your car for when your aux cord breaks) takes radio waves and transforms them into Taylor Swift, these radio waves can be turned into sound. The results are as incredible as they are unsettling, as you can hear above.  

NASA introduced these recordings on its website with the following explanation, which like any good horror movie shifts abruptly between over-the-top and banal: "Soaring to the depths of our universe, gallant spacecraft roam the cosmos, snapping images of celestial wonders. Some spacecraft have instruments capable of capturing radio emissions. When scientists convert these to sound waves, the results are eerie to hear."

These results include the aptly described "roar" of Jupiter; the "rhythmic cacophony" of plasma waves; Saturn's emissions (lol), which are similar to the Northern lights; whistler waves that sound like reality melting; and the song of Jupiter's largest moon, which isn't that far off from early Animal Collective.

NASA actually has a lot of tracks to explore on SoundCloud, and it's worth taking a second to check them out. We promise it'll be better than your best friend's boyfriend's EDM.

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James Chrisman is a News Writer at Thrillist who often feels like a gallant spacecraft roaming the cosmos. Send news tips to news@thrillist.com and follow him on Twitter @james_chrisman2.