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Make music with the stars

Institute of Physics

23 June 2005

This weekend, one lucky person will have their own musical composition beamed into outer space.

As part of Einstein Year, the Institute of Physics is running a competition at a free music workshop to be held at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, to find the best cosmos-inspired piece of music to beam into the outer reaches of the Universe.

The Heavenly Music workshops will run on Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 June, and offer young people the chance to make their own music from sounds inspired by the cosmos.

Musician and PhD student, Jade Hamilton, has been recording galaxies, stars, aurorae, planets and pulsars to inspire young music-makers, and help them make stellar compositions using physics.

With the help of special listening equipment, participants will listen to a variety of galactic sounds – including storms on Jupiter recorded last week – and will use them as inspiration to compose a piece of music on the instruments supplied.

The Institute of Physics will choose the best composition from the weekend and broadcast it across space.

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