The scientist recorded a waterfall in Romsey, Hants,
completed equations and then processed the sound to make what
he believes is the noise of liquid splashing in
space.
He could find out for real what liquid sounds like in space
if NASA's Cassini mission to Saturn is a
success.
The Cassini space craft will go into orbit around Saturn
tomorrow, where it will study the planet, its moons and rings
for four years.
Attached to it is the European Space Agency's probe
Huygens, which will study Saturn's moon Titan. After a
seven-year journey strapped to the side of Cassini, the probe
will separate from it on Christmas Day this year and land on
Titan on January 14, 2005.
There are suggestions that the moon may be home to seas and
streams made, not of water, but of liquid
methane.
Professor Leighton, who has speculated for several years on
sounds in space, said: "I began asking whether the noise of
splashes which is so familiar to us on Earth would be
recognisable in a sea of liquid methane at a temperature of
180 degrees below zero.
"NASA's specially-commissioned painting of a waterfall -
actually a methane fall - on Titan inspired me to attempt to
predict how it would
sound.
"I set up the equations and measured the sound of a small
waterfall. My colleague Dr Paul White then processed the
signal to obtain what we believe would be the sound of a
methane fall on Titan."
This sound can be heard at
www.isvr.soton.ac.uk/fdag/uaua.htm
