Eavesdropping on the universe

by Mike McNeney

It’s easy to think of astronomy as a way of looking at the universe. But what about listening to the sounds from planets, stars and galaxies?

Step onto the roof of the Elliott Building and you might be puzzled by two 23-foot copper wires that are strung 10 feet in the air. They are the antennae of a radio telescope that captures emissions produced by Jupiter’s magnetic field. The instrument was installed, from a kit, by Natasha Maddox for her fourth-year physics and astronomy honours lab project.

“It sounds like static, like a radio that’s not tuned,” says Maddox. “But then when Jupiter is visible and it’s active, the frequency changes and the sound changes.”

Maddox, from Vernon, grew up in a mathematical family and her natural affinity for science (especially physics) brought her to UVic where she thrived on the strong bond among students and faculty in the physics and astronomy program.

“I think I had an abnormally amazing experience at university. The courses themselves are just so hard and the workload is just unbelievable. But it’s worth it and I found that the teachers take a personal interest in you. They really want you to do well, and they help you do well.”

For the past several months Maddox has been employed in an extended co-op work term with the NRC’s Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics on Little Saanich Mountain. She has helped Dr. John Hutchings analyse aspects of QSOs or “quasi stellar objects”—strong sources of radio emissions that are thought to be the bright centres of distant galaxies. “It’s been interesting,” says Maddox, “because I got to be part of the research right when it started and as it progresses.”

While she won’t see the project to its conclusion, the sounds of the universe—and dreams of becoming an astronomy researcher and professor—will be taking Maddox to a new stage of her education. At the end of November, she goes to Sydney to take up a summer scholarship with the radio telescope program of the Australia Telescope National Facility.

(Mike McNeney photo)