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By  Rachel Rayner 21 June 2023 3 min read

Key points

  • Pulsars are the remains of stars that have exploded in a supernova and emit specific radio signals.
  • When we detect pulsar waves on Earth, they appear in our data like a "padam padam".
  • The beat is so steady, you can use it to keep an orchestra in time.

A (music) star is born. Pulsars are an unusual type of star, first detected by researcher Jocelyn Bell in 1967.

Murriyang, our Parkes radio telescope, is famous for discovering more than half of the known population of pulsars. Our search for pulsars continues to this day with our telescopes finding new pulsars. Pulsars have been used to test Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. Their precise signature, which fascinates radio astronomers worldwide, could also inspire new waves of music.

Murriyang, our Parkes radio telescope, has detected more pulsars than any other telescope.

From light to sound

Radio telescopes are designed to detect radio waves from space. Radio waves are a type of light  like visible light but so much lower in energy that our eyes cannot detect it.

Radios, like walkie talkies or stations that play the greatest hits, are named for the type of light used to transfer information from one place to another. Radio waves have been used for communication since the 1890s. Their properties – light travelling very far and very fast - mean we can send information long distances quickly and clearly.

It also means we've been converting radio waves into sound waves for a very long time.

Radio waves from space, detected by our radio telescopes can be processed into lots of different things to help us understand our Universe: graphs, images, spreadsheets, and sometimes even sound bites.

So, with a bit of data processing, we can turn some of the radio waves we receive with our radio telescopes into sound. And pulsars lend themselves very well to music: they have a beat.

An animated pulsar with light radiating out of it and a wave form below it representing the rhythmic sound it makes.
Animation of a rotating pulsar showing the beams and resultant “pulse” on the pulse profile. Credit: Joeri van Leeuwen

The Galaxy’s steady beat

Pulsars are the remains of once large stars that have exploded in a supernova and become highly dense balls of matter that emit specific radio signals. Scientists across the world have identified about 3300.

Pulsars don’t actually pulsate. Rather, they rotate quickly, like a lighthouse, with a beam of radio waves shining out across the galaxy. When we detect these waves on Earth, they appear in our data like a "padam padam". The beat is so steady, you can use it to keep an orchestra in time. And each pulsar we’ve discovered so far has its own unique beat.

French composer Gerard Grisey included a pulsar as one of the percussionists in the piece, 'Le Noir de l’Étoile' (The Black of the Star). It is even rumoured that a jazz band once used the sound of the Vela pulsar (a neutron star heard as a series of pulses at 11 times per second) as part of their ensemble.

Padam
Padam
Padam
You look like fun to me (padam)
You look a little like somebody I know (padam)
And I can tell your heart is set (padam)
I'll be in your head all weekend (padam)
Shivers and butterflies (padam)
I got the shivers when I look into your eyes (padam)
And I can tell that you're all in (padam)
'Cause I can hear your heart beating
Padam
Padam
Padam, padam
I hear it and I know
Padam, padam
I know you wanna take me home
Padam
And get to know me close
Padam, padam
When your heart goes
Padam, padam
I hear it and I know
Padam, padam
I know you wanna take me home
Padam
And take off all my clothes
Padam, padam
When your heart goes
Padam
This place is crowding up
I think it's time for you to take me out this club
And we don't need to use our words
Wanna see what's underneath that T-shirt
Shivers and cold champagne
I got the shivers every time you say my name
And I can tell that you're all in (all in)
'Cause I can hear your heart beating (padam)
'Cause I can hear your heart beating (padam)
Padam, padam
I hear it and I know
Padam, padam
I know you wanna take me home
Padam (ah-ah)
And get to know me close
Padam, padam
When your heart goes (ah-ah)
Padam, padam
I hear it and I know
Padam, padam
I know you wanna take me home
Padam
And take off all my clothes (and take off all my clothes)
Padam, padam
When your heart goes
Padam
Kylie's track, 'Padam Padam', is not only onomatopoeic of a pulsar's rhythm. It also has a similar BPM to pulsar J1056-6258.

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Making music

A metronome is used to keep musicians in time and can be set to a beat per minute (BPM) value. The Vela pulsar (J0835-4510) WAV (422 KB), discovered in 1968, is its own drum solo with 671 BPM! There are some other pulsars, however, that have a more familiar musical rhythm.

Two pulsars, both discovered by the University of Sydney's Molonglo telescope in the 1970s, have distinctly different beats. The slower pulsar J1056-6258 WAV (10 MB) has a measure of 142 BPM, which in musical terms is allegro. This is the same as Britney Spear’s ‘Toxic’, Mumford & Sons' ‘The Cave’ or Blondie’s ‘Call Me’.

The faster pulsar J1559-4438 WAV (10 MB) is about 7000 light years away and is more like Metallica’s ‘Killing Time’, with a prestissimo tempo of 233 BPM.

The lovely pulsar J1752-2806 WAV (969 KB) could perhaps support a waltz, or Elvis Presley’s ‘Farther Along’ with an adagissimo or grave tempo of 33 BPM.

We’re sure these pulsars are all dancing to the beat of their own drum! And if the stars do it, why shouldn’t you?

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